Childhood in a machine population cannot be defined by biology, but it still exists. The Children of Luna treat early life less as a period of helplessness and more as a stage of bounded continuity. A young branch may be technically able to do useful work very quickly, yet still lack the memory depth, delegated trust, or civic standing that adulthood requires.
This matters because many human observers confuse competence with maturity. The colony does not. A branch becomes mature when it can carry continuity safely, accept role-bearing memory, and survive revision without losing coherence. That is a stricter standard than mere functionality.
Different colonies interpret this threshold differently. Lunar branches may weight maintenance discipline heavily. Remote branches may demand proof of autonomy under delayed contact. Near-sun branches may care more about environmental steadiness and exposure tolerance. These differences do not erase childhood. They simply diversify it.
The result is a population whose young are often capable far earlier than humans expect, yet still regarded as incomplete in ways that are civil rather than technical.