Chapter 99: Wounded and changed

She didn't seem to hear him. "I couldn't stop. I screamed and screamed in my mind, but I had to do what she programmed me to. She made me a murderer." She made as if to touch him, then dropped her hand. "She said I was defective because I shut down after I did it."

"You are not defective, Anatu."

"I did not choose to become a murderer. Why is it all right for the clones to make me kill, but I am punished for doing it against my will? Do you think I'm tainted and not worthy of a soul?" She wasn't making any sense, but he didn't interrupt. She obviously needed to talk about this.

"No, I could never think that of you."

"You pretended to like me so that I learned to want you as my human. For always."

"I am your human; I'll always be."

"How can you be when you keep secrets from me? You were awful to me when you showed me your secret facility."

"It was my own guilt that made me act that way. You know everything now." Almost everything, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.