“Androids,” Park echoed. Croaked, rather—all the moisture had been sucked out of her mouth. “So Dataran was—”

“Yes,” he said resignedly. “He is—was—an android. One far more advanced than I am. And I consider myself a leading standard of the industry.”

She felt as if the floor was dropping away from her; the blood was sliding out of her face and hands, leaving her as weak and rubbery as a newborn. She tried to keep her voice steady. “Dataran was—he was posing as a human? A human student? A human boy?”

“Yes.” He hesitated. “He requested that I not say anything.”

“You didn’t think it important to tell me, anyway?”

“No,” Glenn said, with a look that was almost reproachful. “By my assessment, it wouldn’t matter.”

But it would, Park thought, dizzily. It would matter more than anything. It still did.

“And as I said, he was more advanced than I am,” Glenn continued. “There are—protocols to consider. In non-essential situations.”

Non-essential situations? Park thought. What did that mean? Who was determining what was essential and what meant nothing? The androids themselves? “So, what,” she said slowly. “He had—seniority over you?”

“Something like that,” Glenn answered. He looked grim. “His processing unit was generations ahead of mine. A unit of my grade—or lower—usually feels that it’s most likely best to comply, even if we don’t . . . understand.”

This was ludicrous, Park thought. She had never heard of any kind of hierarchy among robots, different levels of authority based on model numbers and generations. Deferences to be paid. She’d never seen two androids interact with each other in any way other than neutral. What Glenn was saying couldn’t possibly be true—that they were developing some kind of society, a culture of their own. There was no evidence for it. But then again, she was beginning to realize that she didn’t know anything.

She said, “But why would he bother? Pretending to be human? You wouldn’t do a thing like that.”

“It was a response to the protests,” Glenn said. “The anti-robot activism in the city. The design firm that created him wanted to disprove the naysayers who would oppose android integration into society. If they could prove that a sufficient amount of people were fooled—if the unit became well-liked—then the robotics companies could use that result to eliminate any argument against them. They could prove that humans and androids could indeed coexist.”

“But he isn’t well-liked,” Park said desperately. Her throat felt like withered bark. “Wasn’t. I was the only one who talked to him.”

At this she began to sink to the floor; Glenn caught her arms and sank with her. His face was still emotionless, impassive. At first she was almost appalled, but then her blood quickened: deep down, she knew why. Nobody meant anything to Glenn besides Park.