He was going to make some comment about that being an interesting system of management, but that last comment shocks him.  "You can't just - grab someone else out of the simulation?  Spin up another simulation?  Didn't you say you did that before me!?"

"You're running on an expensive and difficult to manufacture system called a quantum core. It's expensive enough that my funding didn't extend to more than one. I would need another one to create another person like you while you're still running."

Quantum... core...?  "Okay; that makes sense."

And it makes his other self-appointed task a lot harder.

"I'm curious... is that small enough to fit in the android?  Either way, do you think it would help for me to talk with some of those decision-makers?"

"It'll fit. It's actually fairly small, just ten centimeters in diameter. There's plenty of room for it in your head without the Soong style positronic nets taking up that space. If you'd prefer I do have an alternate design that makes room for it in your torso.

"As for whether having you talk to people would help, I'm not sure. Non-sentient computer programs are very good at carrying on believably sentient conversations for short windows."

Shrug.  "I never worked with robots; put it wherever you think best...  Huh, our computers couldn't really carry on conversations.  I wonder what's different?  But if it won't hurt...?"

"That was intentional." She taps at her invisible console some more. "I've submitted my report and queued a copy to go to Data and a few other people who are likely to be interested. I've also escalated the priority on my request for parts and asked for additional support personnel. Both for the engineers I already mentioned and a counselor for you. Even if you turn out not to want that it's better to ask."

"Intentional -" He narrows his eyes at that.  He doesn't like the idea of the world being limited by something else.  Even though he guesses it makes sense from her angle... he doesn't like thinking like that.

And he narrows his eyes again at the thought of a counselor.  "I've heard bad stories about counselors some places...  Hope she's not going to make me do anything?"

"But for all the rest of that - sounds great; thank you!"

She considers expanding on the bit about it being intentional but decides against it. He reacted badly the last time she emphasized how his simulation wasn't real.

"As long as you're a civilian nobody will order you to see a counselor. Well, outside circumstances where you seem to be a danger to yourself or others. And even then nobody can force you to cooperate. It's possible, in your special case, that they'll want a counselor to confirm you are a person, but I think my records have thoroughly established that. And they probably won't be open about that regardless."