AI. An alien artifact. Espionage. A wicked-smart CEO. A race through deep space. China and the United States are locked in a battle for supremacy when an alien artifact is discovered in orbit around Jupiter. Governments and corporations race to control it.NASA astronaut Dylan Lockwood leads the American's perilous mission to recover the artifact. His ship was designed in record time, in part due to advances in AI design, in part due to... shortcuts.NSA Deputy Director Sara Wells works every angle to give the Americans an edge over the Chinese. She's driven to win, but she can't lose an operative. Not this time.Chad Tanner, CEO of Applied Nanomaterials, is perhaps the smartest engineer ever born to the human race. Obsessed with technology, he can't let the government - any government - control the alien artifact.The humans use advanced AI to speed their progress, AI that begins to become self-aware as the objective draws near...