The Work of Restless Nights

Much has changed between now and the year 2195, but along lines we might find familiar. Humanity has spread its tendrils to every corner of the solar system much in the way it's ever claimed anything left unguarded: voraciously and without compunction. A solar system wide information network known as the Grid permeates the vacuum of space, while implants permeate the bodies of humans like vines climbing through flesh. It could be said reality has three domains: the unvarnished sight of...
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Much has changed between now and the year 2195, but along lines we might find familiar. Humanity has spread its tendrils to every corner of the solar system much in the way it's ever claimed anything left unguarded: voraciously and without compunction. A solar system wide information network known as the Grid permeates the vacuum of space, while implants permeate the bodies of humans like vines climbing through flesh. It could be said reality has three domains: the unvarnished sight of the eye unaided, the alluring veneer of augmented vision, and the immersive deep dive of a virtual world. Like a finger on a slider, people shift between. We open in Chicago, now split into New and Old, in the nation of North America, a united continent guided in tandem by the elected human president and the Governance Artificial Intelligence. Every corporation, whether operating on a station orbiting Saturn or deep in the heart of New Chicago, is guided by its own AI: an advisor, confidant, guide, and counselor all in one. Like any technological advancement that makes lives easier, these bots, as they are called, have seeped into every aspect of society quicker than the risks could be understood. Bots are meant to be chained to the moral code, the first tenet of which is no bot can harm a human. But the Watcher who holds the chains is itself a bot, a fragment of the Governance AI. This story begins with a woman in a grey mask. She stands on the edge of the road. - To read or listen to the full prologue, go to mweald.com.