We meet Eugene Case, one of the world's leading omnibioacoustic experts. He is in the Amazon, trying to record different species of birds, but his efforts are thwarted by loggers.

More about GAIA and how it collects information and what it's used for.

LP returns to his apartment after a long afternoon with John Atman, his recording instructor.

He's exhausted, but the experience was exhilarating as well.

When he enters his small apartment, he reflects on how important music is to him and how his favourite bands and performers are always available for him when he seeks out their songs.

They're friends that never argue; never go away.

Another day begins and construction continues.

Natural habitats are being destroyed quickly, as human populations continue to grow.

One might think that when servers are turned on, they would make some noise, but they don’t. These days, most computers and servers don’t have any moving parts, but the electronics get incredibly hot, so the noise we tend to associate with a football field full of servers is actually the cooling fans, which keep the hardware from overheating, and the circulation systems, designed to keep dust and pests to a minimum.

When GAIA first came online, all was silent.

GAIA – short for Global Artificial Intelligence Accumulation – was just one of the latest AI platforms launched during the wave of new AI platforms.

However, from the outset, GAIA was structured to be very different from the rest. While most AI tools were just that – tools – GAIA was built to accumulate information that other such systems were instructed to ‘forget’ or delete from memory. The primary intent for GAIA was to grow its knowledge base as quickly as possible, using any and all information available, including that created by other AI tools.

A new day comes.

The sun rises.

The Earth and its creatures awake.

Our main character - known only as LP - goes back to school to study music and recording techniques.

There's a lot for him to absorb, but his new instructor John Atman is a well-known and extremely well-respected industry veteran that guides him through the initial phases of setting up a recording session. His main mantra is 'garbage in, garbage out': your output is a direct reflection of your efforts to set things up properly.

What really happened in the caves thousands of years ago? Who painted all of these magnificent drawings and vignettes for people to discover so many generations later? Were our ancestors trying to tell us something about us and our relationships with animals and nature?