Encounters Out There

Bob Grant ran a mining operation on a lonely asteroid with his dog Muffin, controlling thousands of harvester drones.

Throughout the solar system, he traded extracted resources using a skyhook hyper-transit auction system for goods he'd restore and resell for profit.

One day, Bob received something that seemed mysteriously off …

"Check this out, Muffin." Bob placed the object on the table as it disintegrated.

"Looks like someone's trying to con me with counterfeit, shape-shifting nanites."

Muffin growled and barked.

"No problem," Bob smirked while reprogramming the nanites, returning them to sender.

Bob's reprogrammed nanites led to an extinction-level event.