Sorry wasn’t good enough. Sorry was meaningless. She was trying to keep it together in front of Damocles, pretend to be programmed and under control. If she were engineered, the Oracle would be blocking the adrenaline in Clo’s body to keep her heart calm. Was this all worth another death? Kyla and Sher would have told her so. One death to save many. But Clo still thought the price was too high.

Doesn’t matter. Show nothing.

Eris turned away from the prisoner and asked Damocles casually, “A live Evoli. How did you capture him?”

“This one is a spy,” the general said. “The Oracle caught him trying to infiltrate one of our military facilities.” Damocles hefted the weapon in his arms. “Now show me how to use this.”

“It has a micro sequencer attached to analyze DNA,” Eris explained. “You can either isolate the offshoot strands specific to Evoli, or the ones specific to him.” She nodded to the Evoli man. “All you need is a sample—blood, hair, saliva. Whatever is easiest.”

“I can use any sample of genetic material belonging to an Evoli and it won’t hurt anyone else in this room?”

Eris nodded. “That’s right, General.”

Damocles snapped his fingers to his guards and gestured to the Evoli. The prisoner struggled as they pricked his skin for the blood sample. One of the guards returned and handed the tiny vial to the general. The general loaded it into the gun and the weapon charged up, ready.

Damocles finished examining the gun and swung it around, aiming it squarely at the center of Eris’s head. “You said that it’ll only hit this particular Evoli, correct? So, I could fire at you, right this instant, and the blast will swerve?”

“Yes,” Eris said. “If multiple Evoli were in this room, it would choose the closest match to the targeted genetic sequence, down the line to the farthest if you kept shooting. And you can use various things as projectiles. Mors blasts, hard bullets, gases. It’s highly programmable.”

“And if they survive the projectile?”

Eris flashed her teeth. “Barring any obstructions, they are sensored to detect vulnerable places on the body. It’s programmed to make the kill shot, General. No fuss.”

Clo and Ariadne’s creation would work. It was what Clo did: she fixed things and made them better. Only, this time, she had helped create a tool only monsters would be happy to wield.

Clo froze. She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t just let him kill—

<Should I try a distraction?> Rhea’s voice came through the Pathos. <I could have Damocles called away.>

<No,> Eris said. <Stand down.>

<But—>

<I said stand down.>

<Gods,> Clo said. <You can’t be serious. You promised Kyla, Eris. No killing unless—>

<Unless absolutely necessary. I told Kyla I can’t keep that vow as Zoe. Zoe is programmed, Clo. She doesn’t have a choice.>