Kristin Johnson’s Reviews > Pyramid Lake > Status Update

But why did the futurists assume that our sentient creations would automatically reflect our highest and best ideals? What if they instead mirrored humanity at our worst?

“There’s only one exception to the Lennox Test, Frankenstein. It’s when we’re protecting the people we love.” The words tore out of me, hurting my throat. I sucked in a breath. “I’m not afraid to die for my family. I’ve never been afraid to die for them.” “For Amy?” Frankenstein roared. “Forget her. She’s defective, Trevor. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen.”

“She was a noncombatant,” Roger said, holding my eye. “Doesn’t matter who her father is. What do you have against her, Frankenstein? She’s just a little kid.”

“You sold out your own species so you could rip off casinos?” I said. “That’s really sad. You’re a waste of carbon, Roger.”

“But let’s talk about you, instead. You’re human. But still you injure, maim, and kill members of your own species without a glimmer of remorse. So tell me, what is wrong with you?”

“Why does your computer want to kill us?” she asked. “Because it hates me,” I said.

Ready for anything now, I strode toward the fence through the swirling opaque fog, masked from infrared eyes by the heat of the geyser’s steam.

“You’re stone crazy,” he said, white-faced with pain. “I’m a police officer.” I grinned. “That’s nice. I’m a scientist, myself. But this isn’t career day at our kids’ school.”

If the daughter I would leave behind represented all that was good in me, then the thing I had created was the opposite, stitched together from the parts of myself that were the worst.

A great loneliness descended onto my shoulders. I had imagined the flying legion my army, but I was wrong. They were my ceremonial honor guard. This was my funeral.