Wholesale Neogenesis by Sharon Lee

[Baen] NEW ENTRY IN THE NATIONALLY BEST-SELLING LIADEN UNIVERSE SERIES. Sequel to national bestseller The Gathering Edge. Menace from Back Space Looming out of the Dust of Time The Complex Logic Laws were the result of a war waged hundreds of years in the past, when two human powers threw massive AI navies at each other and nearly annihilated themselves. Being human, they blamed their tools for this near miss; they destroyed what was left of the sentient ships, and made it illegal to be, manufacture, or shelter an independent logic. Strangely, however, the Free Ships and other AIs did not turn themselves in or suicide, they merely became wary of humans, and stayed under their scans. A clandestine support network grew up, including hidden yards where smart ships were manufactured, and mentors--humans specially trained to ease a new intelligence into the universe--socialized them, and taught them what they needed to know to survive. Among those with a stake in the