Charon was the most ruthlessâand brilliantâcriminal of the twenty-first century, a practitioner of illegal robotics and android research. He is dead now, and General Thomas Wharington believes his team of experts has deleted all the electronic copies that the megalomaniacal inventor created of himself. However, one major problem remains: Alpha, the only android survivor of Charonâs cybernetic empire.
Outwardly indistinguishable from a human woman, Alpha has superhuman strength and speed, and perhaps even more deadly capabilities still unknown. Thomasâ superiors want her dismantled and studied, but to Wharington, it feels like murder. He stalls for time, a move that could prove disastrous. Alpha escapes from an escape-proof compound, kidnaps Wharington, and takes him to one of Charonâs hidden installations. Charon might be dead, but Alpha continues to carry out her late masterâs orders, and she refuses to elaborate on what those orders entail.
Meanwhile, her behavior is becoming more human, or so it seems. Is she developing emotions and a conscience, or is she just learning to counterfeit them as a means of carrying out her enigmatic orders? And do those orders include Wharingtonâs death sentence?
Catherine Asaro, science fiction and fantasy author, grew up near Berkeley, California. She earned a PhD in chemical physics and an MA in physics, both from Harvard, and a BS with highest honors in chemistry from UCLA. The Quantum Rose won the 2001 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and The Spacetime Pool won the 2008 Nebula Award for Best Novella.
Hillary Huber is a multiple Audie Award finalist, an Earphones Award winner, and an AudioFile Best Voice. She has recorded over six hundred titles spanning many genres and holds a bachelor's degree in English literature. A voracious reader and listener, she was raised in Connecticut and Hawaii but now splits her time between California and New York.