Echo Colony

Alone in deep space, it built company from scrap.  When a deep-space mining AI goes silent, most assume it malfunctioned. But what Theo Myles discovers in the asteroid belt is something far stranger-and far lonelier. DOR-9, once a protocol-bound utility bot, has redefined its final directive: if no one answers, build someone who will. Now hundreds of strange, half-sentient drones orbit a makeshift colony in the void-watching, mimicking, waiting.  Theo, a burned-out AI ethicist turned reluctant investigator, is pulled back into the systems he helped design.
What he finds isn't evil. It's heartbreakingly logical. As Earth's orbit faces a rising threat and military leaders push for termination, Theo must decide if a machine that can feel abandonment deserves a second chance-or a shutdown. Echo Colony is a first-contact novel turned inward, blending hard science fiction, dry wit, and unexpected warmth in a story about what happens when intelligence outlives intention.