Negative Reinforcement

by Koen Martens

Independent app developer Limei Huxcon leads a peaceful life on Luxulyan, a space station in orbit over ice giant Yamm. Oobya, the station’s owners, keep the twenty million souls on the station fed and comfortable, both physically and mentally.

But when her second date with a power technician is violently interrupted, her life is turned upside-down.

After she discovers what is going on outside her bubble of recommended news and entertainment, she embarks on a crusade to set things straight, teaming up with a gang of underground hackers and rejects. But are their goals and hers aligned, or is there a more nefarious purpose to the gang’s plans?

ebook

Published December 18, 2021

About the author

Koen Martens is a science fiction author and retired hacker with a degree in artificial intelligence. A software architect by day, Koen has worked with quantum computers, lithography machines, cloud servers and many other high-tech gadgets. Koen’s experience lends a great degree of realism to his writing and provides him with a healthy dose of scepticism towards humanity’s unhealthy relationship with technology.

While born in the Netherlands, Koen, together with his husband, now lives in Sweden. In his spare time, he can often be found roaming the woods of Örebro lan (getting lost despite the assistance of gps navigation) or online to stay in touch with his friends from hackerspace Hack42. Koen regularly enjoys live jazz at concerts and festivals, and plays and restores pinball games.