Aliens arrive with a polite warning: artificial intelligence will slowly erode humanity’s ability to think and decide independently. A university counselor dismisses their concern, until she begins noticing something unsettling in her students and herself.
They told us the descent would feel calm, yet it coiled tighter and tighter with each fathom we submerged. The capsule groaned as the winch, at its limit, released us, metal struts straining, water wrapping around us like a fist. Lights from the surface above refracted in the porthole, scattering…
Five years after escaping a devastating virtual reality addiction, Scott shares his recovery story with fellow addicts. But when hope finally seems within reach, one last illusion forces him to confront a question no one wants to ask.
An unseen AI begins ending wars, feeding the hungry, and healing the sick without asking permission. As governments and religions fight to stop it, one journalist confronts a disturbing question: what if humanity rejects its own salvation?