Publisher's Synopsis
The Complex Logic Laws were the result of a war waged hundreds of years in the past, when two human powers threw massive AI navies at each other and nearly annihilated themselves. They destroyed what was left of the sentient ships, and made it illegal to be, manufacture, or shelter an independent logic. A clandestine support network grew up, including hidden yards where smart ships were manufactured, and mentors socialised them, and taught them what they needed to know to survive. Among those with a stake in the freedom of Independent Logics is Theo Waitley, the captain of intelligent ship Bechimo. Theo's brother presides over a household that has for a generation employed an AI butler. Recently, he approved the 'birth' of the butler's child, who was sent, with human mentor Tolly Jones, to rescue or destroy an orphaned AI abandoned at a remote space station.
