Baldric Joffrey slid onto the lift’s seat, turning his tablet face down. The driver glanced at him in the mirror, his slate gray skin only momentarily startling. Joffrey glanced at the driver’s neck. It lacked the tell-tell mark of a bot. Humanoid then.

Simon stared at the screen in disbelief as Cadence made her way through the simulation heedless of every challenge he threw before her. Not one in dozens of candidates he’d pushed from the program had progressed this far. Nearly the end.