[ Jack listens with rapt attention, and he goes over every word with the sort of calculating detail he can quickly ascribe to it. He's thinking this is going to be a snap decision, something he truly has to process quickly, but with what Alice explains, he reaches his decision more easily than he'd expected. There's a risk. She could be lying. But the thing about AIs, getting them to actually lie, that was a pretty damn difficult thing to do. Sure, they could be cryptic assholes (not pointing fingers, but), but lying was a level of intelligence that even the best AIs struggled to do consistently. She could be that sophisticated, sure, but it's a more calculated risk than if he were dealing with a human.

And, ultimately? After this week? Desperation and paranoia both are clawing at him. He's been betrayed, been wounded to the point where it's a problem, and now his rapport is ruined. He hates to admit it, but he's losing something. Any hesitation he might have had because of what the ship might do if they knew about the infection is gone, because now? She certainly did. This is a gamble big enough to have his heart pounding in his ears, but— ]

Soon? Al, c'mon, you think I can't make an informed decision on the fly?

[ —But he'll do it. He'll absolutely do it, because if this is a mistake, he barely cares anymore. His only hope is placed in a promise of the impossible by the same creature he's making a deal with now. If this closes off that opportunity, then he was unlikely to ever grasp it in the first place. ]

Thursday morning. Come chat with me then, and I'll have your answer.

[ His smile is confident and self-assured, and you could almost guess at his answer from that smile alone. But she's given him something to look into, and that's not something he's going to squander so readily. Even so, as far as he's concerned, he's also working under a time limit here. ]