As Alex discovers in files buried under access-locked protocols in Helios\u2019 database, Helios and Kuragin had entered into a secret agreement to automate work on Mars, replacing 98% of the planet\u2019s personnel. It also means that all of the people displaced by bots (sounds familiar\u2026) would be sent back to Earth. It\u2019s confounding on many levels, in part because it\u2019s a violation of union-agreed protections. But why invest in the food systems \u2014 and opening a Domino\u2019s and Starbucks \u2014 if they were just going to get rid of the bustling community of people who need to eat? Why would Helios agree to something like that while also working toward Dev\u2019s (Edi Gathegi) dream in establishing the utopian, self-sustaining city of Meru that\u2019s meant to house 1 million people? Why ask Alex for input on the design? Who signed that agreement?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s through these that documents we finally learn what Kuragin has been up to with that sketchy night work: The shipments have been packed with equipment for this automation project. Back home, the Soviet administration has over-leveraged its economy with the iridium from Mars and desperately needs as much as it can get its hands on to avoid a recession, or worse.<\/p>\n The report\u2019s release also begs the question: Did Lily betray Alex\u2019s trust for the scoop? He had gone to her after hacking into his new boss\u2019s security clearance with the documents, but had asked her to wait. He wanted to sleep on it, talk to Dev first (bad idea, kid!), and then decide together. His \u201cwhat have I done\u201d face as he\u2019s reading the flood of news alerts makes me think Lily\u2019s journalism instincts superseded their frieNDA. <\/p>\n<\/a>Sean Kaufman and Edi Gathegi in For All Mankind | Credit: Apple TV<\/p>\n