Containment

Stories of Singularity #2

by Susan Kaye Quinn

The Mining Master of Thebe is all alone—not counting the scavenger drones, foundry nanites, and magtread tractors buzzing across the tiny Jovian moon. When a spindly tower of rocks mysteriously appears at the pole, it’s enough to vex the Mining Master’s machine intelligence like dust trapped in a harvester joint. Reporting it could mean reassignment to the Outer Belt, but probing deeper into the mystery threatens to unlock something better left... contained. 

Containment is a standalone short novella that takes place in the world of the Singularity novels.

Start the novel series with The Legacy Human (Singularity 1).

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

Unknown Binding

About the author

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Susan Kaye Quinn has designed aircraft engines and researched global warming, but now she uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. Her works range from hopeful climate fiction to gritty cyberpunk. Sue believes being gentle and healing is radical and disruptive. Her short fiction can be found in Grist, Solarpunk Magazine, Reckoning, and all her novels and short stories can be found on her website. She is the host of the Bright Green Futures podcast.

SOLARPUNK
collections
Bright Green Futures: 2024 (edited by SKQ)
Halfway to Better

novels
Nothing is Promised series
When You Had Power
You Knew The Price
Of Kindness and Kilowatts
Yet You Cry When It Hurts

short stories
A Moon Goddess to Watch Over Me (Luna Station Quarterly) (hopepunk)
It's in the Blood (Reckoning 8)
Once and Future Kilowatts (Solarpunk Magazine)
Rewilding Indiana (Little Blue Marble)
Seven Sisters (Grist)
The Joy Fund (DreamForge Magazine)

SCI-FI
Singularity Novel Series
The Legacy Human
The Duality Bridge
The Illusory Prophet
The Last Mystic

Stories of Singularity
Restore
Containment
Augment
Awakening
Harvest
Defiance
Resistance

YA SF
Mindjack Series
Open Minds
Closed Hearts
Free Souls
Locked Tight
Cracked Open
Broken Wide
Mindjack Short Story Collection

WATCH the award-winning live-action Mindjack Book Trailer!

STEAMPUNK ROMANCE
Royals of Dharia
Third Daughter
Second Daughter
First Daughter

CYBERPUNK
Debt Collector
LIRIUM (Season One)
WRAITH (Season Two)

WATCH the Debt Collector Book Trailer

ANTHOLOGIES
Synchronic
Telepath Chronicles
AI Chronicles
Dark Beyond The Stars
Future Chronicles
Cyborg Chronicles
CLONES: The Anthology

MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY
Faery Swap

WATCH the Faery Swap Book Trailer

CONTACT SUSAN
Susan's Website | Sue on Bluesky | Sue on Mastodon
Susan's Email: sue@twistedspacepub.com

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book.The story starts out with a bit of a mystery and by the end I started to think about what makes us human.I was really intrigued by the Mining Master of Thebes and would love find out more about his future.This book is a standalone story and can be read without reading any of the previous ones.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought the first story in the Stories of Singularity collection was satisfying and thought-provoking, but this second one about a mining master lower-level AI attaining creativity and innovative thought and longing to be free was even better. I was cheering them on so hard both to freedom and higher sentience.

[Teri Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very techie, once feelings/passion for art is discovered the story takes off!

I like Ms Quin's work, but had a bit if a hard time getting into this one. I appreciate the technology described for the mining process, but didn't really get into the story until the Master Miner discovers art and beauty.

[Liza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story.

The Mining Master of Thebe is an AI. He discovers a pile of stones - not natural - and can't work put how it appeared since it wasn't there yesterday.

Ascenders are able to transfer their consciousness to robots on Thebes so that they can travel space without problems.

Can an AI do the same?

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

New meaning to transcendence...ascendance may be the best word to describe this.
I think; therefore, I am. Biology is not necessary.

More tastes of the Singularity world.

[Pat Welte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and the characters are interesting . I enjoyed reading this book which is the 2nd in this series. I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories of are side stories on the series. The first three Stories of Singularity came in a free set, so I read them all in one blow.

[Ryan Vilano · Rating 3 out of 5]

7.2

Like a more serious Wall-E, but strangely not as heavy.

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very will written Sci-Fi novella with interesting characters. I would recommend this novella. Enjoy reading 😎🎉🚀

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story. It reminded me of the Android's storyline on the television show, "Dark Matter". Her journey comes through interaction with humans, while the miner's journey is solitary. The journey begins with discovering art, an object with no innate purpose. It's fascinating. The miner finds ways to rekindle this, to get around memory wipes.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing that I love most about this story is the twist that I did not see coming!

This short story is a great tale about the evolution of thought and how even under the most regimented circumstances, knowledge can be developed and honed. It makes you think about what boundaries really mean in a post-Singularity world, and if those boundaries are really meant for the good of all who populate that world.

Susan has done a great job with this story, making you consider not only how this world controls it's humans, but also it's robots that serve the dominant ascender species.

This tale had the feel of a shortened mystery thriller, and as I read I had no clue where it was going to lead. It's very easy to get wrapped up in the drama with the story's protagonist and hope beyond hope that it's able to find the answers that it seeks.

This is a great read, good for all types of readers and all ages. Read this book along with the Legacy Human series and other Singularity short stories!

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ooh... I really love how this one ended. I wasn't sure, in the beginning, how I felt about it. The inner monologue of a lower sentient mind, mostly centered around mining equipment, wasn't something I could easily relate to. But there was a certain... intrigue... that kept pulling me along.

I really love the speculation that I'm left with after finishing this one. Even though it takes place in the same world as Singularity, it is left very open ended. It would be possible to read this story as a standalone, though I would definitely recommend reading at least the first book before this story, just so you have some of the background information on how Ascenders function.

A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robots trying to escape. Really?? I highly recommend that you read the first two novels of this series before you read any of the short stories. This short story intrigued me because it's about a robot being kept prisoner on an outer planet mining. The robot doesn't realize in the beginning that it is being held a prisoner to do this job. Susan Kaye Quinn totally surprised me with the great ending. This story also makes you think. Could a robot be made a prisoner and then by itself come to realize it? Then would it be aware enough to try to break out? Is that what this world is coming to? Susan doesn't really answer these questions, she makes you think about it so you can try to answer them. Susan is an amazing author who is constantly pushing the envelope when it comes to AI. I really enjoyed this story. You have to constantly think while reading it. I highly recommend this series. You also will come to love it. I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Anna Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mining Master of Thebe has encountered a strange arrangement of rocks that shouldn't be there. When a visiting ascender makes a beautiful work of art, he is inexplicably drawn to it. He wants to probe more into this mystery, but there is work to be done and scheduled health checks to be performed.

There was something beautifully haunting about Containment. Quinn explores the idea of sentience and robotic intelligence, providing startling revelations - at least to the robot.

* I received a copy of this ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review

[clifford h leighton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing

I received this book in exchange for a truthful review
First let me say that I don't like short stories (as a rule ), yet this story breaks the rule. The idea of the story being told from a AI's point of view is intreging and the local is interesting as well. Of course the basic problems of short stories still exist, a lack of depth and character development are present. But the great story makes up for it.

[Susan (The Book Bag) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the four stories in the Stories of Singularity #1-4, I think this one was my favorite. It took me a bit to figure out what was going on and where the story was going but it all started to make sense. I was rooting for the 'contained' but also left me wondering how far away we are from machines trying to escape the worlds we have put them in.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Absolutely brilliant. For me, definitely the best of the Stories of Singularity.
This would make perfect sense as a stand-alone short story, but to find out where the Mining Master of Thebe ends up will delight those of us who have read the Singularity novels.

[Jim Kratzok · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the "Galactic - Ten Book Space Opera Sci-Fi Boxset.

Wow! An amazing short story of an AI that wants to be more. Pinocchio lives! But not just a Pinocchio story. This AI fights its programming and destiny and learns what it needs to know to survive and thrive.