Activation Degradation

A robot programmed for destruction develops sentience and starts to evolve in this hard science fiction novel from the author of Noumenon.

When Unit Four—a biological soft robot built and stored high above the Jovian atmosphere—is activated for the first time, it's in crisis mode. Aliens are attacking the Helium-three mine it was created to oversee, and now its sole purpose is to defend Earth's largest energy resource from the invaders in ship-to-ship combat.

But something's wrong. Unit Four ...