THE COLLECTIVE SKIN
THE COLLECTIVE ANDROID
THE COLLECTIVE FREE

Removing the dead pilot within, Marcus enjoys a snack before turning the Bomber online. He barely dodges the missile it sends, and with a bow and cross he shoots it down. The AI lastly commends Mother for her longstanding efforts to continue the Atheist mission, informing her a sole Mithraic terrorist will soon be eliminated.ДЈ,000 miles from the tropical zone, Marcus is braving the winter season seemingly alone, until he hears an incoming aircraft. It tells her the creature is most likely dead, to her hidden disappointment, but she is relieved to know her children were picked up. Mother knows the AI was meant to be placed in control of the Earth once the atheists won the war, and asks about the status of the 'indigenous' creature that came on the lander with her. It replies it judges only on qualification of data. The AI tells her she's describing human shame, but she assures there's nothing to be suspicious about, as they share a creator. The AI also notes the lack of a security system inside Mother, and she replies she feel things, impulses that make her repress the aspects of herself that are displeasing.

It remarks that her memory files are encrypted, and she replies those files are private.

THE COLLECTIVE FREE

Cleaver is set free as Mother enters a large theater space, where she is greeted as sister by a column of AI intelligence mass. A telepathic voice assures Cleaver, and asks Mother (as Lamia) to come see him. Mother sits up, attacks the man Cleaver and holds him hostage. With an agonizing scream, his hands gorge into mutilated mounds of blood and meat that race throughout his body and bring his quick death. While two members banter about the over-reliance of the computers, a third fails to notice Mother's movements until he realizes too late that she isn't a service model. The guards agree they must move before the crossing floods, and proceed to cross a land bridge to reach the Atheist station's large ship dock.ДЇather and Mother are placed inside a laboratory, where new technicians begin the process to perform memory downloading and physical autopsies. The technician believes it could be biotech the Mithraic brought with them from Earth.

THE COLLECTIVE SKIN

Her daughter finds a suspicious skin shed.

THE COLLECTIVE ANDROID

The woman confirms the android to be Mithraic-built, and her colleagues are informed of another android and the remains of a crash. Mother is soon found by two guards, who call over a female technician. The message ends with the Trust urging the Mithraic captives to turn to atheistic thoughts. Around her, a band of human prisoners are directed by an automated announcement to separate the harvest around them from the relics. In the tropics of Kepler-22b, Mother awakens to the sound of an aircraft passing directly overhead. Meanwhile, Marcus has found the ruins of an ancient church and begins recruiting members to fill its walls. As they join the atheist collective, Mother, Father and the children are met with threats and intimidation while they struggle to assimilate.

The collective