7081

In the penal colony of Vesta, information is currency. Not the ore the prisoners dig up to be sold far away on Earth, nor the drab chlorella sludge they subsist on. Under the watchful eye of the Shepherds-- machines of metal and math-- there are no luxuries or contraband. There is nothing to trade except memories of Earth. Information is used to trade jobs, to make allies and most importantly, to bribe the Shepherds who guard them. But Eenon Pak is not brilliant and has already been away from Earth for several years. On Vesta, he is poor.
His assigned Shepherd, 7081, seems at best indifferent to him and at times even hostile. Assuming they are simply programmed that way, Eenon pays little attention to his Shepherd's curt responses until he realizes that 7081 is as self-aware as Eenon is. And just as trapped.
But just as information can be used to bribe and ingratiate the prisoners to the Shepherds, it can also be stripped from them for violating prison rules. Eenon doesn't know what the previous prisoner did to scramble 7081's memory and neither does his Shepherd. One influential prisoner, Darren, is holding the key to 7081's memories hostage and preventing any of the other prisoners from revealing too much. Unwilling to pay the asked ransom, his Shepherd is stuck and Eenon does not like the stranglehold Darren has over the colony. Nor the cruelty Darren exhibits to other prisoners. From the beginning, Eenon is isolated by both Darren's direction and 7081's misery. Tied permanently together, Eenon faces a life sentence of loneliness unless something changes. He has no power, he has no possessions to barter with, and he has no friends, but he is resolved to recovering 7081's data for both of their sakes.