This doesn't surprise me, I kind of picked up on it on the first listen but after going back it's definitely there. CJ is all about hard numbers and plans. If the colony had excel she'd be up to her neck in spreadsheets about everything happening in the colony. She also seems smart enough to understand that people do not fit in columns and rows nicely. So after a few months of running the colony and knowing the things she would like to be able to influence but hasn't been able to, it wouldn't be surprising that she'd begin experimenting on a "weak willed" person to influence the decisions of a "strong willed" one. No better test bed of the characters we know than Pegs and Michael to fill those roles.