The mother code - carole stivers

What it means to be human--and a mother--is put to the test in Carole Stiverss debut novel set in a world that is more chilling and precarious than ever.

The year is 2049.

When a deadly non-viral agent intended for biowarfare spreads out of control, scientists must scramble to ensure the survival of the human race.

They turn to their last resort, a plan to place genetically engineered children inside the cocoons of large-scale robots--to be incubated, birthed, and raised by machines.

But there is yet one hope of preserving the human order: an intelligence programmed into these machines that renders each unique in its own right--the Mother Code.

Kai is born in Americas desert Southwest, his only companion his robotic Mother, Rho-Z.

Equipped with the knowledge and motivations of a human mother, Rho-Z raises Kai and teaches him how to survive.

But as children like Kai come of age, their Mothers transform too--in ways that were never predicted.

And when government survivors decide that the Mothers must be destroyed, Kai is faced with a choice.

Will he break the bond he shares with Rho-Z? Or will he fight to save the only parent he has ever known? Set in a future that could be our own, The Mother Code explores what truly makes us human--and the tenuous nature of the boundaries between us and the machines we create.