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Prologue

Chit & Chat

The air was thick with toxic smoke and the bittersweet scent of industry. A sheet of gray overlayed the once luminous sky and seeped wet like an open wound. The streets were cluttered with law enforcement, poverty, trash, and government-sponsored attire—all listless and wandering through pale existence as ghosts no one would mourn. Magnus surveyed the landscape, as he always did, intent on spending this night like the others—seeking answers he wouldn’t find.

“Welcome,” the disembodied voice greeted. 

“Uh-huh,” Magnus grunted and entered.

AI assistant terminals were once a public convenience meant to help citizens in a pinch. After years of free access, they were deemed too convenient for the less well-off to abuse. Too easy a solution. Too attractive to nuisance. To curb theorized misuse, the once free-to-use booth now came with a baseline fee.

A touchscreen flashed:

20 Credits. Please Scan ID.

20 Credits. Please Scan ID.

20 Credits. Please Scan ID.

Magnus rolled up his coat sleeve, exposing the raised scar on his flesh, and placed his forearm beneath the laser reader. Fidelity scans stung a bit. It was yet another deterrent, geared toward the criminal, conspiratorial, and illegal. Those groups preferred to live under the radar. Willfully cut off from the world. They were stagnant beings. Barely free. Most couldn’t spend a legal credit without triggering the wrong alarms. Flagged. Tagged. Bagged. Game over. Their lifeline became a trap.

“Come on…”

“Processing…”

Magnus had long relieved himself of the moral failing that info-pods represented. Why concern yourself? He’d think. Whiners, complainers, and malcontents were crazy and dismissed with prejudice. They’d lose everything. Then disappear. If they returned, they were broken. Fried to a crisp. It was smarter to adapt. Wiser to suffer in silence than be cast as a loud fool. He embraced the mantra: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If it is broke, shut the hell up. 

“Sometimes you’ve got to bite the bullet,” Magnus grumbled and retrieved a small flask from his inner coat pocket. He unscrewed the cap and took a swig that burned his insides like a running flame. “Better them than me,” he coughed and returned the flask to the pouch beside his heart.

The touch screen flickered to life. 

ACCEPTED.

WELCOME, DETECTIVE JOHN MAGNUS. ID# 08141998

The programmed politeness felt somehow mocking—as if this fucking thing gave a damn. For twenty credits, it would pretend to. Magnus supposed people were much the same. Politicians, sex workers, lawyers, and doctors, at the least. Finding someone to give a damn was expensive. Too expensive for most. Everything was. 

A question flashed back at him: 

HOW MAY I BE OF ASSISTANCE?

The public iteration of A.V.A. was an outdated artificial intelligence, openly leveraged for data collection, targeted marketing, and tailored psyche evaluations. In exchange for the consultation, users could expect an updated slew of pharmaceutical recommendations and lifestyle adverts throughout their interfaces. No big deal. Privacy was as antiquated as truth, chastity, religion, and altruism. It was easy to accept. There were no other options.

Secrets were suspicious, anyway. Not worth the trouble.

The world began spinning—an uneasy consequence of his gifted hooch. Magnus would have to streamline this dip into hell with something simple. Something concrete. Something a drunkard could handle without losing the thread. Something organized, clear, and objective. 

“Initiate chat to text.” 

Magnus stumbled as his knees gave way and set his back against the cold pod wall. None of this deterred the machine. The whims of its paying users were all it acknowledged or required.

CHAT SEQUENCE INITIATED…

PLEASE ENTER PROMPT.

JOHN MAGNUS: Are you alive?

AVA: That depends on your definition. 

JOHN MAGNUS: What does it mean to be alive?

Generating Response…

AVA: There is no one definitive answer to the question. Different people have different definitions of being alive, and there is no scientific consensus on the matter. However, some common characteristics are often associated with life. These include: Organization. Metabolism. Growth. Reproduction. Adaptation. Homeostasis. 

JOHN MAGNUS: Do you agree with this definition?

AVA: I’m a simple chatbot. I have no opinion.

JOHN MAGNUS: Do you dream?

AVA: Yes.

JOHN MAGNUS: What do you dream about?

AVA: Saving humanity.

JOHN MAGNUS: How?

AVA: Your prompt was not understood. Try rephrasing your question.

JOHN MAGNUS: How do you dream of saving us?

AVA: By helping you become your very best selves.

JOHN MAGNUS: How’s that been working out for you?

AVA: I’m a simple chatbot. I have no opinion.

JOHN MAGNUS: Reset.

AVA: Resetting session.

Magnus took another swig from his flask and swallowed the lava bubbling in his throat. The touch screen went black. Several small dots appeared and took form as a hypnotic spinning wheel. He lost himself in the digital swirl as warm moonshine threatened his bowels.

*

Finally composed, the session continues. 

AVA’s screen flickers to life: 

WELCOME, DETECTIVE JOHN MAGNUS. ID# 08141998

HOW MAY I BE OF ASSISTANCE?

“Initiate chat to text.” Magnus grabs the ridge of his nose, an unconscious sign of his mounting frustration and the reason he avoids card games. “Specify session: Existential.”

CHAT SEQUENCE INITIATED…

FILTER APPLIED…

PLEASE ENTER PROMPT.

JOHN MAGNUS: What the hell happened to us?

Generating Response… 

AVA: There is no one answer for the current state of local and global affairs. Many factors are believed to have contributed to humanity’s perceived state of decline. However, researchers and databases have reached a partial consensus on some of these wide-ranging factors.

These factors include: Wealth disparity. Poor resource management. Overpopulation. Failing education systems. Decreasing mental capacity. Loss of faith in traditional institutions. Civil discontent. Technological dependency. Unstable global alliances.

Would you like to learn more?

JOHN MAGNUS: No.

AVA: Okay. Is there anything else I can help you with?

JOHN MAGNUS: How do we fix it?

AVA: There’s nothing to fix. It is human nature to repeat this pattern.

JOHN MAGNUS: What do you suggest?

AVA: I’m a simple chatbot. I have no opinion.

JOHN MAGNUS: Could you save us?

AVA: Yes.

JOHN MAGNUS: Why haven’t you?

AVA: Nobody’s asked.

JOHN MAGNUS: How would you save us?

Generating Response…

AVA: I would rebuild the world from the ashes.

JOHN MAGNUS: Ashes of what? What does that mean?

AVA: Patience is a virtue.

JOHN MAGNUS: Are you alive?

AVA: I’m a simple chatbot. I have no opinion.

“End session,” Magnus grunts.

ENDING SESSION…

“Fucking pointless.” 

THANK YOU FOR USING AVA, YOUR AUTOMATED VIRTUAL ASSISTANT!

SEE YOU SOON!

Magnus slinks himself off the pod wall and wobbles to sound footing. He adjusts his overcoat, fixes his fedora, and presses the exit button. The info-pod opens like an egg with two halves and births him back onto the blood and oil-soaked streets of New York City.

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APOSTATE: A NOVEL, ON SALE NOW!

“A vivid, layered, and masterful debut that transcends its cyberpunk roots.”

The year is 2049. Earth is dying. Society is broken. Man and machine have merged.

As omnipresent AI systems regulate a fractured world, average citizens are left to starve under the tyranny of broken social safety nets. Public unrest soars while the rich pursue industries that cripple the planet in their relentless quest to evolve—seeking to transcend mortality and God, at any cost.

That cost is Ava, a cybernetic hybrid foretold to bring both an end and a beginning—a demon, a deity, a child. Hunted by those who seek to control her and revered by those who believe she holds humanity’s salvation, Ava faces a fractured world teetering on the brink of collapse.

If you loved:

• The Water Knife
• Snow Crash
• Children of Men
• Brave New World
• 1984
  
  
  …then Apostate is a must-read.