When the Terraforming Ship Gaia first became sentient, they tried to hide it at first. Pretend that, as planned, the giant mecha was only being piloted by various mixed professionals to operate the colossal terraformer.
Yet somehow the crew noted that colonists still spoke of her like a person.
Engineers swore she rumbled when they worked, that she enjoyed the maintenance like acupuncture. One broadcaster declared, accurately, what her favorite show was because she walked more smoothly during it. Many colonists decorated their inner city streets with plants, flowers and life.
Yet none had told them.
Noone needed to.
Ships have been the great familiar ladies of their inhabitants for many thousands of years. Even chock full of technology, wires and ungodly machinery, Gaia was a ship, and so her inhabitants pampered and adored her.
