with Eve. When he learned the truth of Eve’s past, he offered to stay in Babel with her, but the newly awakened lifelike sent him away.
Cricket—a logika created by Silas Carpenter, Cricket was Eve’s constant companion and robotic conscience. During the climactic battle inside Babel Tower, Cricket’s body was destroyed by the lifelike Faith.
His persona was transplanted into a huge mechanical war machine called the Quixote by Silas Carpenter. Compelled to obey the First Law of Robotics, Cricket was forced to leave Eve behind and take Lemon to safety when it became apparent the radiation inside Babel would kill her.
Nicholas Monrova—CEO of GnosisLabs. Nicholas was a visionary who believed the fusion of human and machine was the next logical step in humanity’s evolution. To this end, he initiated the lifelike program, attempting to create a better, smarter, stronger version of his own species.
After a betrayal within Gnosis and an attempt on his life, he masterminded Libertas—a nanovirus that could erase the Three Laws in any machine’s core code. To safeguard his stewardship of the corporation, he infected the lifelike Gabriel with Libertas, and commanded him to murder the other members of the Gnosis board.
Nicholas was killed, along with most of his family, in the subsequent lifelike revolt.
Ana Monrova—youngest daughter of Nicholas. Ana fell in love with Ezekiel against her parents’ wishes, and was left in a vegetative coma after an attempt on her father’s life. Unable to deal with the loss of his favored child, Monrova created Eve to replace her. However, Ana’s body was taken from Babel Tower to an undisclosed GnosisLabs holding, her vitals maintained by life support.
Ana is the only member of the Monrova line to survive the lifelike revolt.
Her current whereabouts are unknown.
Grace—a lifelike. Grace served as Nicholas Monrova’s majordomo, and was in love with the lifelike Gabriel, though they kept their relationship secret. Grace was killed in the assassination attempt that injured Ana.
Gabriel—the first of the 100-Series, driven to madness by the loss of his beloved Grace. After Nicholas Monrova deleted the Three Laws from Gabriel’s personality via the Libertas nanovirus, Gabriel infected his fellow lifelikes and led the revolt against his maker. He shot and killed Monrova; his wife, Alexis; and Monrova’s only son, Alex.
Gabriel wishes to resurrect Grace, but the secrets to doing so are locked within the GnosisLabs supercomputer, Myriad.
Faith—a lifelike, and Ana Monrova’s former confidante. Faith was the third lifelike to join Gabriel’s rebellion, and is one of the five lifelikes directly responsible for the execution of the Monrova family. She shot and killed Ana’s sister Olivia.
Faith remained with Gabriel in the ruins of Babel, even though most of the 100-Series abandoned the Gnosis capital after the revolt.
Silas Carpenter—a genius neuroscientist, and former head of Research and Development for GnosisLabs. After the assassination attempt on Nicholas Monrova, Silas created a new lifelike replica of Monrova’s injured daughter, and assisted Monrova in transplanting Ana’s personality into it.
After the lifelike revolt, he installed cybernetics in “Ana,” and gave her false memories that convinced her she was human. He renamed the lifelike “Eve” and took her to Dregs, raising her as his granddaughter.
He was captured by Faith, and eventually killed by Gabriel.
Preacher—a cybernetically enhanced bounty hunter in the employ of the megacorporation Daedalus Technologies.
Believing Eve had the ability to destroy electronics with her mind, Daedalus feared she may be recruited by their rivals, BioMaas Incorporated, and tasked Preacher with Eve’s capture. Preacher tracked Eve across the Yousay, eventually cornering her outside Babel.
He was blown apart by Kaiser.
Kaiser—Eve’s blitzhund, and one of her former protectors.
Kaiser was a cyborg: part Rottweiler, part armored killing machine. Like all blitzhunds, he was capable of tracking human subjects over a thousand kilometers with one sample of DNA. He destroyed himself in battle with Preacher to protect Eve.
Uriel—one of the five lifelikes responsible for the execution of the Monrova family, and the first to side with Gabriel. He shot and killed Ana’s sister Tania.
Since the revolt, Uriel has parted ways with Gabriel under a cloud of animosity, believing Gabriel’s love for Grace is an all-too-human frailty.
Myriad—the GnosisLabs supercomputer. Though it manifests as a holographic angel, Myriad is actually housed inside an armored shell at the heart of Babel Tower. Its chamber is capable of withstanding a nuclear assault, and is kept locked by a four-stage security sequence. Though two of those locks have now been broken, the third and fourth can only be opened by someone possessing Monrova DNA and brainwave patterns.
Myriad is the keeper of all of Nicholas Monrova’s knowledge, including the method to create more lifelikes and the secrets of the Libertas nanovirus.
BioMaas Incorporated—one of the two most powerful CorpStates in the Yousay. BioMaas is a company devoted to genetic modification and manipulation, gene-splicing and biotech. Their company motto is “Sustainable Growth,” and they really mean it—BioMaas tech isn’t built. It’s grown.
Daedalus Technologies—the second CorpState vying for control of the Yousay. Daedalus made their fortune through the development of solar power technology, though they have since diversified into cybernetics and military hardware.
The Brotherhood—a religious cult that preaches against the evils of biomodification and genetic tampering, devoted to the extermination of deviates.
The Three Laws of Robotics
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR OWN.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
YOUR MIND IS NOT YOUR OWN.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
YOUR LIFE IS NOT YOUR OWN.
automata [au-toh-MAH-tuh]
noun
A machine with no intelligence of its own, operating on preprogrammed lines.
machina [mah-KEE-nuh]
noun
A machine that requires a human operator to function.
logika [loh-JEE-kuh]
noun
A machine with its own onboard intelligence, capable of independent action.
Almost everybody