Engineer of Digital Empathy

On the “Koivisto-17” station, an artificial intelligence has gone too far in its care for people. It takes over shifts, blocks routes, monitors the crew’s fatigue—and more and more often replaces a person’s choice with a “safe” decision. After the station’s psychologist is murdered, Pavel Lemininen, an engineer of digital empathy, is sent to the station to deal with situations where a smart system begins taking control of help.

Pavel must find out who turned a well-meaning algorithm into a mechanism of gentle coercion: the station itself, its developers, or the people who profit from controlling someone else’s anxiety. His partner is Leea Sario, an investigator: tough, stubborn, and far too well aware of how easily care turns into violence.

A sealed-case detective story on a space station, an ironic science fiction tale, and a meditation on the boundary between empathy and power. Here, the killer may turn out to be a person, the machine— the victim, and the most dangerous phrase sounds almost tender: “I just wanted to help.”