Desperate times, man. [That is to say he agrees and doesn't even care that it's a backhanded compliment. He knows it's true. He jumps at the wrong times at time, but not in this case. He's more interested now that he's aware Arumat understands him, and for a moment he huffs in annoyance.]

That doesn't surprise me at all. But I thought her creator was some guy named Harlan. Unless you mean Alice herself isn't an AI but can alter the AI which is even more complicated.

[…hm.] The fact that she's unable to establish contact might mean something if we're really not in space at all. Aren't satellites in space to begin with?