Motherless Children

Just when you thought you could trust the robots again...A senator's son is strangled by a synthoid in AsiaTown and, just like two other victims, tattooed with an indecipherable barcode.Jake and Kim, his new partner, battle political corruption, the Chinese Triad, and Internal Affairs, discovering a disturbing Fourth Law of Robotics as they decode the tattoos to stop the deviant series of murders.It might not make sense, but the beloved Media tags it 'Murder by Munchausen.' For a price, there are hackers out there who will reprogram a synthoid to do your dirty work. The bad news: no fingerprints or DNA left at the crime scene. The good news-at least for us-is that they're like missiles: once they hit their target, they're usually as harmless as empty brass. The trick is to get them before they melt down their core OS data, so you can get the unit into forensics for analysis and, hopefully, an arrest. [excerpt from Murder by Munchausen]Artificial Intelligence? Fuhgeddaboudit!Artificial Evil has a name...Munchausen.