Nicholas arrives through a hatch onto what appears to be a remote desert island, the typical kind of ideal island paradise. But as Nicholas soon discovers this is no ordinary island, for he has been sent to a space station manufactured environment, complete with the artificial intelligence of the title. This place is designed to help cure disturbed personalities and he soon encounters others of the island's residents.

This is a fascinating little idea, and unfortunately that is partially why I found this disappointing. At sixty two pages, I found this was too short. There was simply so much I would have wanted covered, from the workings of the intelligent station, through more detail of the characters' problems that to get it in and have a story crammed in too is just to much to hope for.

That said, Gene Wolfe is an excellent writer and almost manages to satisfy even at this brief length. This is a story for a single sitting, and one that will impress upon you the talent of the writer but unfortunately he doesn't fully realise what I feel this story could have become.