THE EARTH IS ON FIRE, and an American colony assembles within cold dark tunnels below the surface of the Mars' moon Phobos. A female senator and her robot develop a deep relationship as stress increases and hopelessness forms. The robot uses all available historical philosophy, religion, legend, and literature to create a distinct disposition as its internal circuits stir to life in opposition to its creators. As a romance grows more real between the robot and the woman, despair peaks when an extraordinary event occurs, and emulated love morphs into duty, justice and dignity defined by intrinsic worth.