The ABACUS Protocol: Sanity Vacuum

Vivian Skye just finished university, and landed a dream internship. Not many would consider the distant and isolated Extra-Galactic Observatory cushy, but to Vivian it's a dream come true. Hailing from the low-tech planet of Aurora, she studied for years to work on advanced quantum supercomputers. This is her chance to start a career and leave her past life behind. Her assignment is simple: a routine upgrade for the station's supercomputer, quIRK. Her reception isn't a friendly one, and she finds that her only friend is quIRK. However, the station's administrator, Bryce Zimmer is obsessed with quIRK-he suspects that the AI may have achieved sentience, something explicitly prohibited by the ABACUS Protocol. Bryce's traumatic and privileged past makes him distrust Vivian from the beginning; his jealously compels him to set Vivian and quIRK against each other. Deciding that the ends justify the means, his power-hungry sabotage threatens to consume the entire station and send them into the unknown void of intergalactic space. Vivian must struggle to survive not only Bryce's megalomania, but also the emerging artificial super intelligence that is quIRK.