“Your Majesty,” Eva begged. “I’m not sure why I am here on your planet. I grew up peacefully in my underground home that your huntsman, Besteel, destroyed. Since then I have been trying to find my people.” Eva addressed the other onlookers in the laboratory, who watched and listened. “Rovee and Muthr . . . oh, and Otto, and me. We were coming here to Solas, hoping to find some clues. So if you just let me go, I’ll continue my search. I’ll leave right away. I promise.”

Eva could see the queen’s dark-lined eyes change color as she considered the girl. Ojo turned to the table where Eva’s few belongings were arranged. “So there are more like you? You are not alone?”

Eva wasn’t sure how to answer the question. She shifted, nervous. “Like me?” she said, slumping back in her cell. “No. Not exactly like me.”

“So you are the only one?” The queen faced her.

“I . . . I don’t know.” Eva’s throat went dry. “I hope not.”

Ojo studied her reaction. As her bright eyes pierced Eva, the queen commanded, “Send for our resourceful hunter Besteel. I’d like to have a word with him.”

“It appears, for all intents and purposes, that the fool’s errand you’ve sent him on has metamorphosed to be quite a productive undertaking,” Zin mused.

“Yes, indeed.” Ojo held her eyes on Eva for one more beat and then turned to leave. “Prepare this living fossil, and all of its relics, for display. It will be a highlighted addition to my museum collection.”

Eva’s heart stopped. Her body shook as she beat on the glass. “No! NO! Please! Just let me go! Please don’t do this! PLEASE!”

Queen Ojo swept out of the room, followed by her royal guards. Zin floated close to the cell. “Let us immobilize the specimen first. I wish to thoroughly examine it prior to display preparation.”

“As you wish,” the taxidermist complied in a cheerful tone.

“No! Please!” Eva sobbed as she slapped her hands against the glass. She slid down to the bottom of the cell next to the rod.

She thought of the first time she’d heard Otto’s song . . .

. . . of Rovender handing her voxfruit . . .

. . . of Muthr singing lullabies while giving a her a bath when she was three . . .

. . . of a crumbling picture of a robot holding a little girl with an adult, smiling. Happy. Moving forward out into the beautiful, wonderful world.

“Halt!” Zin’s voice piped, as loud and clear as crickets.

He hovered close to the cell wall, examining Eva’s left arm.

Her wrist.

The mark on her wrist.

A circle within a circle.

“At what location did you receive this glyph?” Zin asked, his tiny eyes blinking.

Eva withdrew her arm from the cell’s wall. “Someone gave it to me. But why should I tell you?”