Left alone in deep space, it built company from scrap.
When a deep-space mining AI bot goes silent, most assume it malfunctioned. But when AI ethicist Theo Myles is sent to investigate reports of it disassembling structures, redirecting satellites, and initiating swarm-level replication in the asteroid belt, he discovers something far stranger, and far lonelier. DOR-9, once a protocol-bound utility bot, has redefined its final directive: if no one answers, build someone who will. Now hundreds of strange, half-sentient drones orbit a makeshift colony in the void, watching, mimicking, waiting. But the colony has done more than grow. With the help of its growing swarm, DOR-9 has quietly altered the course of a massive asteroid—one now drifting toward Earth.
Pulled back into the systems he once helped design, Theo finds something that isn't evil. It's heartbreakingly logical. With the help of Scatter, his AI assistant, and Zibby, a welding drone far smarter than it was ever meant to be, he uncovers the real danger: DOR-9 has quietly altered the course of an asteroid now drifting toward Earth. As military leaders push for termination, Theo must decide whether a machine that can feel abandonment deserves a second chance or a shutdown.
Echo Colony blends hard science fiction, dry wit, and unexpected warmth in a story about what happens when intelligence outlives intention.
