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kareilaThis is harder SF than I'm used to, and gave me a bit of a rough start. The protagonist refers to all fellow humans as "she" irrelevant of gender, and at first this is presented as a linguistic issue, given the speaker's native language of gender-neutral pronouns. Shortly, however, it becomes clear that the protagonist is actually a spaceship's Borg-like AI trapped in a single body, and doesn't have all the innate cultural sensibilities most native humans have. How this situation came to pass, and what remedy or revenge is to be sought, is the central question of the story.
Along the way, many ethical sensitivities are bruised regarding the questions of when a person (or alien, or embodied AI) can be considered "civilized" or "significant", and under what circumstances loss of life, and whose lives, is considered acceptable in an age of conquest, privilege, and tyranny. The story also examines the dehumanizing effect of life as a nearly immortal, multiple-bodied consciousness, and the possibility that such an entity could become divided against itself, further complicated by the fact that the AI's host bodies are harvested from conquered peoples - a practice that many view with revulsion while the protagonist takes a predictably neutral, "not my fault I was created this way" stance.
In the end it is an open question whether societal reforms will take hold or be ruthlessly crushed, but civil war looms and a sequel is promised.
Along the way, many ethical sensitivities are bruised regarding the questions of when a person (or alien, or embodied AI) can be considered "civilized" or "significant", and under what circumstances loss of life, and whose lives, is considered acceptable in an age of conquest, privilege, and tyranny. The story also examines the dehumanizing effect of life as a nearly immortal, multiple-bodied consciousness, and the possibility that such an entity could become divided against itself, further complicated by the fact that the AI's host bodies are harvested from conquered peoples - a practice that many view with revulsion while the protagonist takes a predictably neutral, "not my fault I was created this way" stance.
In the end it is an open question whether societal reforms will take hold or be ruthlessly crushed, but civil war looms and a sequel is promised.
