Charon was the most ruthless-and brilliant-criminal of the
twenty-first century, a practitioner of illegal robotics
and android research. He is dead now, and General Thomas
Wharington believes his team of experts has deleted all
the electronic copies the megalomaniacal inventor created
of himself. However, one major problem remains:
Alpha,
the only android survivor of Charon's cybernetic
empire. Outwardly indistinguishable from a human woman,
Alpha has superhuman strength and speed, and perhaps even
more deadly capabilities still unknown. Thomas's superiors
want her dismantled and studied, but to Thomas it feels
like murder. He stalls for time, a move that could prove
disastrous. Alpha escapes from an escape-proof compound,
kidnaps Thomas, and takes him to one of Charon's hidden
installations. Charon might be dead, but Alpha continues
to carry out her late master's orders, and she refuses to
elaborate on what those orders entail. Her behavior is
becoming more human-or so it seems. Is she developing
emotions and a conscience, or is she just learning to
counterfeit them as a means of carrying out her enigmatic
orders? And do those orders include Thomas's death
sentence?