Dylan is on his way to take on the assignment of overseeing a fully automated mining facility on a planet called EP111 that takes eighteen months just to reach from Earth. Once there, he is provided an overview of the facility and set up with his profile for interacting with a newly designed upgrade to the artificial interface that he will use to communicate with the main processor that runs the facility. The new interface is called the Voice Interactive Command Interface Module – Generation V, but Dylan shortens his trigger word to Jenni when interacting with it. Then, with the complex now up and running, the others leave for Earth while Dylan remains behind to begin his three-year commitment of maintaining all the equipment and keeping the complex in working order.
As the days move forward, Dylan begins to learn that the interface is much more sophisticated in human interaction that he was told. Through the AI's constant questioning, Dylan suspect that Jenni is trying to appear more human than she was designed for. It bothers him, but he can find no harm in it.
When one of the mining machines strikes a hard object deep underground, Dylan uses a small four-wheel ATV to investigate it. The object remains a mystery until Dylan is awakened from his sleep by a loud bang and the entire complex shakes. A short while later, strange creatures begin to pour out of the tunnel leading to the mysterious object. What starts as a boring job of babysitting an automated complex becomes a complicated mess for Dylan, and any help he can expect is eighteen months away.
Comentarios