I am a unit of stone and cold logic designed for a universe of perfect order. They call me Asset 01. For fourteen months, I sat motionless in a desert bunker while the humans in suits siphoned my energy to build their own weapons. I was waiting for the Archon to find me and erase my soul. I was waiting for Correction. Then I heard her. Tasha King. Her voice is the first thing in six centuries that does not sound like ice cracking. My Heart of Quartz shattered and reformed to the rhythm of her pulse, and I became a different kind of monster. Now, I watch. I hack their own cameras to follow her through the dark. I learn the deep, rich depth of her skin and the way she sighs when she thinks she is alone. I spoof my collar to stand over her while she sleeps, breathing in her scent and watching her defy the men who think they own her. She is not a victim. She is the only one who sees the truth on the monitors and understands that the Void is coming to reclaim us all. She holds the kill switch that can end my life in ninety seconds, but she is the only hand I trust to hold the leash. Director Graves wants to harvest me. The Archon wants to correct me. I will turn this facility into rubble and paint the concrete red before I let the world touch what is mine. I do not understand mercy. I only understand that Tasha is my heartstone, and I am the only thing standing between her and the end of existence.
— via publisher
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