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were protecting her circuits. Then it went into her memory files and deleted all the copies of the video.” He stops scrolling and taps the screen. “Only an incredibly advanced piece of software could’ve done all that. I couldn’t have written it. It’s way beyond my abilities.”
    â€œBut not beyond Sigma’s.”
    Dad nods. “Sigma’s running the factory complex for the North Koreans. The AI’s sensors detected you and Shannon, then alerted the soldiers. And when Sigma determined that Shannon had observed the assembly line, the AI wirelessly reached into her memory and erased the video files. Because it doesn’t want us to know what it’s manufacturing there.”
    If my Quarter-bot had a mouth, I’d be frowning. Dad likes to share his theories with me because I can usually come up with counterarguments to challenge and test his ideas. Today is no exception. “If Sigma has the power to hack into our circuits, it could’ve deleted all of our files. It could’ve completely erased Shannon and me. And it could’ve also deleted Zia and DeShawn when they came to our rescue.” I sweep one of my robotic arms in a wide arc to emphasize my point. “So why didn’t Sigma destroy us? Isn’t that what the AI wants? To eliminate all its rivals?”
    Dad leans back in his chair again. “Remember when Sigma captured you six months ago? The AI could’ve deleted you then too, but it didn’t. It wanted to study you first. Sigma is programmed to constantly improve its performance by studying its competitors and adopting their best features. So it wouldn’t delete you until it finished the evaluation process.” He stares at my steel face again. “That’s a good thing, Adam. It means you’re safe for now. We have some time to figure out the best strategy.”
    â€œBut Sigma deleted Jenny.” I raise the volume of my synthesized voice. I’m upset, and I want Dad to know it. “The AI erased every last memory in her circuits. And it forced me to watch.”
    Dad doesn’t say anything. We both know why Sigma killed Jenny. It wanted to observe my reaction to her death. It was all part of the “evaluation process.”
    I can’t talk about this anymore. Dad’s intentions are good, but he doesn’t understand how I feel about the other Pioneers. He doesn’t see them as family, like I do. The five of us have grown close because we’re so different from the rest of the world, and so isolated. The Army rarely allows civilians to visit our base. Shannon and DeShawn hardly ever get to see their parents, and Zia and Marshall get no visitors whatsoever. (Zia’s parents are dead. Marshall’s mom is an alcoholic.) So we rely on each other. We’re like a separate race—no, an entirely new species —with our own language and culture and customs.
    I change the subject. “Have you talked to Mom lately?”
    Dad lets out another sigh. “We spoke on the phone yesterday. Your mother isn’t too pleased with me right now.”
    I wait for him to say something else, maybe offer some explanation, but of course he doesn’t. My circuits crackle with frustration. “Where is she?”
    â€œThe Army moved her to another safe house last week. This one’s in Albuquerque, I think.”
    Mom and Dad never made a decision to separate, but that’s basically what happened. For the past six months Dad’s been stationed here at White Sands, partly because he’s the technical adviser for the Pioneer Project and partly because he wants to stay near me. But in all that time Mom came to the base only once, and that visit lasted less than ten minutes. She can’t stand to look at me. She believes that Adam Armstrong died six months ago, when his body expired, and that Adam’s soul went up to heaven. In her eyes, I’m a monstrosity, a steel-and-silicon