Brad Lansky and the Result War
J.D. Venne
The Rogue Planet missed Earth by a few thousand kilometers and quickly receded into the blackness of space.
The Sleepers, the smartest form of biological life ever encountered, showed no interest in Earth and shunned all communication, even with GAIA.
The massive object deflected Earth inward, toward the Sun.
Earth’s new orbit is elliptical - a colossal shock for every creature.
For those who cling to life, the new normal means long dismal winters, punctuated by short summers of searing heat.Worst of all, the new orbit is chaotic, because it gets too close to Venus.
All of humanity is anxiously looking at GAIA to restore certainty, and with it, hope.
GAIA’s vast computational abilities are being brought to bear on a single, fiendishly difficult result:
What is the future of Earth’s orbit?
But this result is also of great interest to others. So great, that someone has started a very public ‘result war’ with GAIA.
Someone anonymous, with monumental computing power, for reasons only a paranoid AI could begin to comprehend.Track 1 - The Great Uncertainty - The Full Advantage ponders the refusal of the Ankaans to make contact, despite having left Earth with an unstable orbit.Track 2 - Mythaxium (& After Math Result 1) - A strange and somewhat paranoid AI calls Brad. Not an easy conversation for either of them.Track 3 - The Digital Divide - Brad and Alex on foot in the off-grid African savannah. Will their illegal tech be a help or hindrance?Track 4 - Highly Programmed Insect (& Result 2) - Something is very wrong with Brinn. The entity 'Anonymous' issues its first prediction on the future of Earth's orbit.Track 5 - Cycle Farm (& Result 3) - Someone is systematically hacking Brinn's mind. But who? And why?Track 6 - Dream Lucid - They learn what they can, but the attacker will not be easy to find.Track 7 - Chaos (& Result 4) - Brad and Brinn talk about chaos. GAIA issues a scary result.Track 8 - Doors Of Interception - Brinn manages to take a back seat in her mind, with fruitful results.Track 9 - Lowlife - They confront the hacker in his compound with the help of AI, and insects. Track 10 - Ejection (& Result 5) - Just as they celebrate their victory, GAIA issues a shocking result.Track 11 - Seed Bank, Ross Island - Mythaxium persuades them that all roads lead to Scott Base in Antarctica, or what's left of it.Track 12 - Benny - Brad and Alex are no strangers to alien life forms, but this.....Track 13 - Scott Base - Trapped deep under the ice, and way out of their depth.Track 14 - Forward Errors - Struggling on, at the mercy of tech that is scarcely distinguishable from magic.Track 15 - A Very Different Ejection (& Result 6) - They find a way to force the Ankaans' hand. Great powers converge upon Brad with a laser focus.Track 16 - Analog Life - Brad is gone, somewhere in exile. The hacker is back. Track 17 - Ship’s Log - The future of Earth's orbit is now certain, and dreadful. But B-life now has 'Scotti'.
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