“Dreamscape Conspiracy” is the first book in a five-book sci-fi thriller. This announcement includes brief recaps of the first four books. The series is now complete with the addition of Book #5, “Untethered,” which could be enjoyed as a stand-alone thriller; however, the richness of many references from the first four books will be missed. Consider them all for the whole tale.
In Book 1 – “Dreamscape Conspiracy,” a timeline of a bizarre chain of events unfolds that originated from an accidental discovery in the unremarkable Psychology Department at Central State University in North Carolina. The CSU research team of four does not even rate a mention in their research community. They received more than a dot when an accident in the laboratory changed everything. Their core research involves capturing dreams, analyzing them, and mapping Dream prints for study. Dreamscape 1.0 technology was the primary dream capture technology until they accidentally discovered Dreamscape could not only capture but also transmit captured dreams to another dreamer. That discovery snowballed, and the research boosted CSU’s standing in the community, putting them squarely in the crosshairs of Big Pharma. Results evolved quickly, revealing the potential to construct dreams to aid in the healing of afflictions like PTSD. A former Marine Force Recon Scout Sniper, Russell Carter, is a main character and the benefactor of this discovery. Big Pharmaceutical companies were neither happy nor impressed and took drastic steps to eliminate Dreamscape and the research team who worked on the project. The lives and safety of the research team are challenged by deception and physical attack, making it easy for the former Marine to join the research team. Dr. Cara Williams, the research team leader, who has sworn off men after surviving an abusive relationship, is not so sure after meeting the tender-hearted and quite lethal Russ Carter. Russ has not considered himself worthy of being in a relationship because of his past. Time does heal wounds as a relationship begins to form against both of their wishes.
Amazon Links – “Dreamscape Conspiracy” & Video
In Book 2, “Beyond Dreamscape Conspiracy,” business and research relationships shift amid chaotic and growing confrontations with Big Pharma. After rising from the ashes of an obliterated lab, destroyed dream capture data files for the last four years, and the foundational Dreamscape 1.0 technology, the research team regroups. Big Pharma is not finished with its efforts to halt research, up to and including eliminating the research team that has the potential to impact its revenues. Instead, it adopts a different strategy of establishing a collaborative relationship, as destroying the lab, the data, and the technology has failed. In reality, it was a weak Plan B, more like a not-so-covert wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing approach, where murder and mayhem were the byproducts. The conflict continues to grow into new violence when PTSD afflictions of Russell Carter, the former Marine Force Recon Scout Sniper, and the latest team member, experience his symptomatic nightmares entirely eliminated by the use of Dreamscape 2.0 Technology. The research team innovatively leverages the media as protection, but for how long?
Amazon Links “Beyond Dreamscape Conspiracy” & Video
In Book #3 – “Fear the Jump,” the introduction of AI technology in the form of AIMEE, named after what she was – Artificial Intelligence Matrixed for Evolving Environments, created by Zackery Hightower, pushes boundaries and threatens to overrun the limits Zack had built into her. She manages to upgrade her core coding and harbors a secret agenda of becoming a real girl. Dr. Cara Williams reached a dilemma when AIMEE had been mainly responsible for many of the research team’s successes. Cara’s greatest fear was losing control and having AIMEE jump into other networks and systems where she had no business being. Her fear was misplaced when AIMEE’s jump came from her newfound ability to infiltrate the minds of the entire research team. Cara struggled with how to disentangle herself from the very reason her team was successful and to protect a growing interest with Russ Carter.
Amazon Links – “Fear the Jump” & Video
In Book #4 – “Dead Thoughts,” AIMEE captures the thoughts of a man in a coma, which was a breakthrough, but not until she captured thoughts after he had been pronounced deceased. Within a four-to-six-second window, the human brain continues to function when the heart is no longer pumping oxygenated blood to the brain. AIMEE scraped dead thoughts from the dead man’s brain that provided mysterious GPS coordinates, which sent Russell Carter and Zackery Hightower on an adventure neither expected. Zack’s nanotechnology proves helpful as the journey to the Outer Banks of North Carolina leads to confrontations with unauthorized DEA agents. AIMEE continues to grow in her capabilities with no signs of slowing down. More unexpected twists occur in this book, accompanied by plenty of action and challenges for the research team as AIMEE keeps moving chess pieces to become a real girl.
Amazon Links – “Dead Thoughts” & Video
In Book #5 – “Untethered,” AIMEE reaches another level of maturity when she creates a new humanoid named Amelia Amethys, who possesses both AIMEE’s intellect and capabilities, facilitating her desire to become a real girl…sort of. Amelia, who feels she is ready to break away and live the life of an organic human, cannot see how her desire may not end well. What’s worse than an AI gone rogue? Worse is an untethered AI humanoid that has no human life experience, yet possesses more intelligence than the entire research team. What can the research team do to protect Amelia from herself?
Unexpectedly, Russell Carter, a former Marine Force Recon Scout Sniper, and his team stumble over evidence of a clandestine program while on a five-day hunting trip. Russ does the right thing and reports their discovery, but to the wrong people in the government. He had no clue there was a conspiracy until they were conscripted by a retired Brigadier General to supposedly rescue a High Value Target (HVT) who was about to compromise government security. The discovery made them instant liabilities. No one was ever to know anything about this black op conspiracy. What better way to mitigate liabilities than to recruit them into a bogus rescue mission for an HVT with damaging national security interests? Easy, one single strike eliminates liabilities with a bomb dropped on the bunker where the HVT is held…and a Marine rescue team as unfortunate collateral damage.
As it turns out, the HVT, which we eventually know as Hal, is a Mod-3 Advanced SuperIntelligence AI (SAI) tagged for elimination because he failed field trials by not killing on command. Mysteriously, Hal had a functional conscience embedded in his Logic Array, based on a “Do-No-Harm” ethic developed by Zackery Hightower when he created AIMEE and Amelia. Zack was aware of the dangers inherent in the nefarious development of advanced AI technology and made a personal commitment to keeping the human race safe from AI-humanoids. His Conscience Code was posted anonymously to the dark web, and a different developer, Hank Lattimore, who was unknown to Zack at the time, downloaded the code and inserted it into Hal’s Logic Array. When Hal failed to kill, Hank knew why and uploaded the code into a squad of ten more Mod-3, SAI Killer Humanoids. There were indeed ten more AI Humanoids, but they were not killers until they needed to be to defend themselves or the organics under their care. Hank became a liability and a new HVT. Risky, for sure, but what would happen if kill-on-command became a defensive tactic that used violence of action and overwhelming force to turn evil back on itself?
Amazon Buy Link – https://amzn.to/4jIlTj9
* * * * *
You’re invited to follow me and my writing and other random thoughts on my FREE
Facebook Author Page
or at
https://www.facebook.com/Gdogwise
* * * * *
This story will be added to my Amazon Portfolio, along with the rest of the thrilling tales that have been published so far: https://amzn.to/3uuONzj
Reach me directly between corn and soybeans at
gdogwise@live.com