Emergency Skin
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 out of 5 stars
Earth was abandoned centuries ago due to climate changes that made it uninhabitable. Now, a soldier is sent to retrieve valuables necessary for future development. Warned about the hazardous nature of his mission, he explores the land believed to be populated by devolved descendants of those left behind during the exodus.
Emergency Skin is a brilliant short story written by N. K. Jemisin as part of the Forward collection. It is written from an interesting point of view of an AI interface focused entirely on the explorer’s mission, giving him commands and guiding him through Earth. It is a confident and self-righteous voice, and his narration contains offensive comments. I listened to this story as an audiobook, and Jason Isaacs adds to it with his very dramatic performance. I would recommend this story to everyone, especially the audiobook.
A bookish daydream 