11
IN THE CAVERNOUS breakfast hall, all the base’s constructs sat at long tables, one for each cohort. Most were children of various ages, but others were almost ready to leave the base for military training. The air hummed with voices, primarily male. Grimshaw and other low-ranking constructs often were, because they filled frontline combat roles. The Kessler tech specialists and pilots were usually female, but the base did mostly Grimshaw. Workhorses.
Melati walked through the hall looking for her boys in the sea of the same blue jumpsuits, each with their cohort tag on the chest.
An older male construct in ISF uniform pushed a trolley through the aisle, collecting plates.
Melati’s boys sat around a table near the back of the hall, in between two groups of almost-adult Grimshaw const
