Nithya turned the screen on and added two more lines: Is Luis well? If you see him, tell him we love him and miss him.

WELGA

12. Our agents and bots have outstripped the intelligence and capability of our pets, albeit in different areas of competence. Being their creators, we have not endowed in them a desire for independence, reproduction, or self-improvement. We do not compensate them for their work, other than to maintain their existence. Some would argue that we owe them nothing, not even the minimum of keeping them “alive.”

—The Machinehood Manifesto, March 20, 2095

Connor drummed his fingers on the bed while Welga paced around the room. She was downing duo-zips every three hours to keep herself from turning into a human quake, and she had nearly run out. She’d budgeted enough to get her through the journey to Eko-Yi. On a rocket that floated in the middle of the ocean. That wouldn’t launch anytime soon.

The latent energy that zips filled her with didn’t help her restless mood.

“Can you believe this shit they’re pulling? Again?” she seethed. “Can you?”

Connor sighed. “You can’t do anything about it. Call Olafson. Ask him to put you back on the Maghreb mission.”

“The Machinehood isn’t in North Africa.” Welga growled and jabbed a finger upward. “They are up there. I know it! They know it!”

“You need to relax. This isn’t good for you. Go cook something. I could use a bowl of chicken soup.”

“The state of the fucking world isn’t good for me, and cooking soup won’t make it better. We have to figure out a way to get that rocket launched.”

“And risk the lives of twenty civilians? Those interceptors can scramble in three minutes. They’ll be over the rocket in five.”

“I’ll go to the base and destroy them.”

Connor snorted. “You’re out of your mind.”

“Goddamn right.”

“Maybe you’re wrong about Eko-Yi, and the caliph really is behind the Machinehood. Ao Tara doesn’t seem the type to create this kind of chaos.”

“No, I’m right. This administration wants a reason to invade the empire, and I do, too, but a legit reason. Not some bullshit that goes against the evidence we have. I walked away from doing the right thing before, when I was too young and scared to go against orders, but this fight belongs to me and every other human being on this planet. The Machinehood brought it to us, and our chickenshit government doesn’t own it any more than I do. They’re going to fuck this up again, and this time, it won’t be only North Africa that suffers. We’ll all pay the price. I’m not going to sit around and let that happen.”