"Their suicide missions, you mean?" She smiles sadly. "It's incredibly clever, and so obvious, too. I mean, if you're already making many copies of each model, why not keep some around as spares?"

She looks down; he doesn't need to elaborate. "Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part," she murmurs. "Because if he is alive, I'd hate to think that... that everything he was could just be shrugged off, like a costume." The corners of her mouth tighten into a frown. "He hasn't tried to contact me. I-- I've seen a few of his model walking around but they've all just looked through me."