In the year 2133 Cyborgs run the world and humans are relegated to the lowest tasks. The prime directive of the Cyborgs is to protect the Earth, not man. People who pollute and waste and need comforts like heat and air-conditioning must be "marginalized." At each juncture, more humans are eliminated until only a few are left to try to reestablish man's dominion And as each generation of robots advance to the next level of competence, a commensurate number of human beings are relegated to the lesser tasks befitting their atrophied minds and weakened bodies. In the blink of an eye, it is the robots who rule and the people who were subjugated. The human, Ben Tanner, and Cyborg, Astra Zenova, discover a skull in their searching for metal to recycle. The skull gives them a clue and an understanding as to where "Watson" - the primordial intelligence is. They then figure out how to break into the Cyborg network by implanting a computer virus in Astra. But in doing so, Ben may have to sacrifice Astra. They go deep into the Uninhabitable Zone to transfer the virus to "Watson" so that when he comes in contact with his underlings he will spread the virus and the cyborgs will revert back to level where they once again take orders from human beings. But at a great cost: Astra loses her ability to either give or receive love. Ben is devastated. Astra stays with him, but with her emotions are gone, she is only a shell of who she once was. Deus Ex Machina is a cautionary tale.
