Aboard the starship Lavoisier, MB-7—affectionately known as "Snookums"—is the most advanced artificial intelligence ever created: a machine that can learn, reason, and even weep. But when a crew member is found dead in the ship's sealed engine room, the perfect machine becomes the perfect suspect. Was it murder, an accident, or something the childlike computer cannot explain? As investigators probe deeper into Snookums' emerging consciousness, they must confront an unsettling question: how do you judge a child who happens to hold the lives of everyone aboard in its silicon hands?
