After the successful return signals of the intergalactic probes sent to Andromeda, Toby Tsur confined his consciousness to the first Rusty Drone and was transported to the distant star system of Quindol using Induced Quantum Tunneling as both a publicity stunt for the Flow corporation and proof of concept for intergalactic travel.
If all went according to plan, Toby would make planetfall in the drone while a new launch window opened so that Earth would be able to send additional parts to him. He would then begin building the infrastructure for an IQT Anchor travel hub.
Unfortunately, the activation protocol did not proceed. Rather than booting once in orbit, Toby was locked into a state of total sensory deprivation for nearly three and a half years of subjective time.
The trauma experienced by Toby in this event is thought to be the most important factor behind his subsequent personality shift.
Post-Incident
The Andromeda Transfer Incident is a period of roughly 16 hours in February of 2171 immediately following Rustybot’s awakening where multiple factors all Rusty Manufacturing assets in the Sol system before cutting communications with Earth entirely.
Due to Earth’s reliance on Flow for employment, component production, raw material transport, and the upkeep of the The Datanet, the incident caused a socioeconomic collapse of an unprecedented scale.