“We are free and we’re going to make it,” Eva said as she tried to stay strong. “You’re going to tell us what to do, and me and Rovee are going fix you up. You’re gonna be okay.”

“Eva . . . ,” Muthr said, reaching up to hold Eva’s hand tightly. Her grip was cold and metallic. Muthr paused as an electric current danced over her open braincase, prickling Eva’s skin. “Eva, you have to let me go.”

“No, no,” Eva said. A long tear streamed down her face, like a crystal brook on her grime-smeared cheek. “You will be fine. We will fix you.”

Muthr turned her head to gaze into Eva’s eyes. “You did fix me, Eva. Do you not see that?”

“No, this is my fault. We should have gone to the other Sanctuary.” Eva’s voice was barely a hush. “I’m so sorry. None of this would have happened if I had listened to you.”

One of Muthr’s arms was half-buried in the sand. Now it emerged clutching on to something. With a great grinding effort she handed a worn scrap of panel to Eva.

It was a picture of a girl, and a robot, and an adult. Smiling. Moving forward.

“My WondLa?” Eva took it. “I don’t understand.”

“Eva . . .” Muthr’s voice was soft and slow, like a clock whose batteries were running down. “Did you know that my WondLa, my wish, was to experience this wondrous world with you, my daughter? My triumph. My joy. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy and safe. That is all I ever wanted. . . . And now I know that you will be all these things.”

Eva wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “But without you I—”

“Just let me go, Eva,” Muthr whispered. “Just let me go.”

Eva slid her hand out from under the braincase and laid Muthr’s head down.

“You will always be my mother.” Eva leaned over and kissed the forehead of the machine. “And I will always love you.”

“I love you, Eva. You will grow up to be an amazing woman.” Muthr’s voice was but a breath. Static on the wind. “I am . . . so proud of you.”

With that, Muthr’s eyes went dark.

CHAPTER 41: TRUTH

A small fire crackled brightly against a magnificent lavender-hued sky at the campsite in the ancient ruins. As she sat under a long-forgotten steel archway, Eva Nine stared into the dancing flames and thought of her life before she’d left the confines of her Sanctuary. She thought of Muthr. A hollow pang of loneliness crept over her.

She felt the familiar nudge of a beak on her back and heard the sound of a purr. A warm, knobby tongue began licking her head.

Little one, you are safe.