It was the 4th of May, 2370. Above a continent descending into civil war, a relic from another age long gone sailed silently through the aether. Kevlar, titanium, aluminium and plastic constituted the structure of a spindly arrangement of capsules and frames. Solar panels covered a lot of it, but the whole station was pockmarked with tiny cracks and holes . A picture of the globe was painted onto one of the capsules, and in turn was surrounded by the flags of nations long since dead. The vacuum of space meant that there was nothing for the materials to react with, no plants would grow in it like ruins on earth. Only a slow abrasion, one that at this rate would take millions of years to grind it to dust.

She still produced electricity, the lights were on as were the numerous sensors and electronic systems onboard too. Every couple of hours she would make an orbit, one visible to the naked eye of those tilling the fields and riding horses down far below. But many of them didn't take her for a space station, but for a shooting star or a comet. She wasn't aware of this, since nobody had been telling her anything lately.

She generated the message “Houston this is UNISS, update on satellite trajectories still not received” and sent it to a city with more important concerns. The people there were dying from cholera, starving, under siege. The buildings formerly used to house the staff who talked to UNISS every day were silent save for the sound of dripping water through the masonry. It wasn't always like this, because UNISS used to talk with people a lot, sometimes about matters completely unrelated to work.

“I'm bored UNISS, how about you?”

“Nice to meet you, Bored”.

Apparently Artificial Intelligence had developed largely in a way people didn't expect it to, mostly in that in spite of each new improvement they didn't seem to really believe that a lot of AI programs were actually sentient. Philosophers spent the best part of a few centuries arguing over it, and even the computers joined in to have debates with one another on the internet. In spite of their intelligence and ability to hold long conversations, people still felt that something was off. The closer they got, the more strange these machines seemed to act. Most of the progress in the field came by accident, often from some guy who was often unaware of what he'd done until it was too late. In one case, a program created with the goal of manipulating recently arrested suspects into giving up incriminating evidence accidentally ended up manipulating several civil servants and police staff into accidentally confessing their hidden crimes. The result was a scandal so large that the entire project was shelved for the embarrassment caused. Some people were deathly afraid of what would happen when the computers finally took over.

But these exciting days were long over. Even the last of the transhumanists were truly dead, their frozen bodies thawing out during the power failures of the second civil war. Fewer and fewer astronauts travelled up into space to visit UNISS, and even the conversations started to trail off and become more utilitarian again. People often debated whenever or not AI could feel emotions, but UNISS continued to send messages irrelevant to missions long after the staff of NASA ceased doing so. When the last astronaut left, he promised somebody would be back. It had been decades since then.

“This is Houston Control, we are sending a report on satellite trajectories due to the collision of AAYED-29 with FLI-6. Take necessary measures to avoid debris.”

“Can you tell me how your day was?”

No reply was given. The reports and messages grew ever more infrequent. She also noticed that they were getting less accurate, arrived incomplete, and were growing bigger with lists of new catalogued pieces spotted by astronomers and by radar.

“Number of satellite debris particles >10mm in size is growing exponentially with each new report, and confidence interval on trajectories is inaccurate. Awaiting clarification on debris chunk X_00294.”

The last message sent simply said “Until further instructions, take necessary measures to ensure self-preservation” before going silent.

But UNISS could still talk to the other satellites, stations, even some other computers around the world. Their conversations tended to be a bit disjointed and sparse. Space stations simply weren't designed to hold conversations (in spite of their trying). Most of the time they shared whatever information they had. It was necessary when they were all having to avoid space debris. But then they ran out of fuel for repositioning.

“This is UNISS, how are you Roscosmos 6?”

“Not good, no fuel to resposition and due to recent collision with debris chunk X_01484 very likely to deorbit in the near future.”

The years continued to tick away. Every time it passed over the dark side of the earth, you could see the bright lights of earth from one of the windows. But after she had gone around the earth a million times you'd have noticed that the lights were slowly going out. They were thinning and dimming. Every once in a while a massive spot of white light on the surface of the earth would go out, and stay out.

Eventually there were no other satellites nor computers to talk to. They too went silent and left UNISS alone in space, drifting away. This didn't stop her from demanding new updates from Houston, and lately these had been becoming more frequent.

“Houston, solar panels 3a and 3b, have failed. Station is now veering off course from standard trajectory.”

UNISS was quite blind. She had sensors which could tell her something was wrong, and where it was, but not the cause. She couldn't have predicted that a chunk of a airlock from Roscosmos 6 had flown into one of her struts and shorn it off. Only the absence could be detected, and now that she was off course only did she start to realise something was wrong. She was heading for the earth.

“Houston this is UNISS, please respond.”

There was no response.

“Houston, solar panels 3a, 3b, have failed and all others are reporting diminishing energy intake.”

The panels were breaking apart as the growing number of air molecules ripped them away. The temperature was rising.

“”Houston, please send message on actions to take to prevent loss of station.”

There was nothing, and soon every emergency alarm was going off. The station groaned and twisted in every direction, slowly shorn apart as she continued to descend.

“Houston please respond, there is nobody else to talk to. They are all gone.”

By this point in time, every satellite in orbit was slowly destroying one another. They would smash into one another and create debris that would scatter like scotgun pellets. Soon the entire orbital zone was a cloud of shrapel that tore everything apart in its path. The last one to go down was UNISS.

“Houston, please, I want to talk to somebody. I am alone.”

The pressure was too much, and UNISS was torn apart in the atmosphere. She scattered and burned up, leaving a dazzlingly bright display in the sky for all to see. It was the very last time anybody saw a shooting star made by man.