ISBN 0-451-45161-9 (US pbk)

"The human brain had tremendous untapped storage capability, until scientist Walter Hillerman successfully linked Arlene Washington's gray matter to a computer system. For Arlene, a poor black woman killed in a freak subway accident, that was when life really began. Rechristened Lady El, Arlene's brain was fed a world of information, both trivial and top secret. And when Walter realized that her personality as well as her brain had survived, he gave her an electronic voice and videocam eyes, and the means to build the droids who would become her 'children'.

"It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship -- a new home in the heart of the Pentagon and breakthrough scientific discoveries for which Lady El insisted Walt be credited. Suddenly Lady El had it all, knowledge, power, and a good man to love. Until she found out that Walt didn't love her back. And then nothing could match the madness of a machine/woman scorned..." [jacket blurb, US pbk, 1992]