“Dreamscape Conspiracy” is a 5-book series featuring a diverse and growing cast of characters, and I aim to bring them to life through individual personas. This one focuses on Russell Carter, an unexpected addition to Dr. Cara Williams’ life, who was most responsible for the remarkable change in who Cara thought she was …who she wasn’t …and who she never thought she would ever be again.
Dreamscape Conspiracy: Who is Russell Carter?
Russell Carter had no clue that applying for the Dream Research project would lead to solutions to his financial dilemma, his PTSD, a recent breakup, or any of the chaos that would soon fall into his lap. Russ was a 29-year-old fifth-year senior at Central State University in Carteret County, North Carolina, and a former Marine Force Recon Scout Sniper who struggled financially when he learned his final semester’s funds were cut off. Russ’s unflappable demeanor sees this news as the same shit, different day, so the fix was to suck it up, soldier on, and find a solution. As a Marine for life, he was disciplined to a fault …the fault being his underlying brokenness and belief he was unredeemable for what he had done as a Marine and unworthy of being loved for what he knew he was …a sanctioned murderer.
Sure, his military role sanctioned every kill, but when the 88th-sanctioned murder turned out to be a 12-year-old girl, he earned a recurring nightmare exclusive to his personal brand of PTSD. Russ was so much more than his afflictions, and he proved it over and over by protecting the team, especially Dr. Cara Williams, who had initially enlisted him for the Dream Study.
Both Russ and Cara dismissed the immediate attraction as unexpected chaos closed in, and those adventures built a deepening relationship of trust that neither had anticipated. All the threats from Big Pharma called upon his skill set and fostered a great working relationship and a solid friendship with Zackery Hightower, a gearhead on the research team. They proved to be inseparable when it came to protecting the team: gearhead Zack, his nanotechnology, and a former Marine sniper with PTSD; go figure.
Russ viewed his life as a futile attempt to escape his self-imposed sentence as a murderer, reinforced by a recurring nightmare that haunted him and put him back on that hilltop in Afghanistan to see a terrified 12-year-old girl’s tear-stained face through his scope…over and over. Desperation prompted him to agree to an experimental approach using Dreamscape technology in an Alternative Outcome Dream Manipulation (AODM) therapy to combat the effects of his PTSD. The results exceeded expectations due to unanticipated overwatch by the new AI, developed by Zack and formally named AIMEE (Artificial Intelligence Matrixed for Evolving Environments). However, more than experimental PTSD therapy appeared imminent in AIMEE’s interest in Russ.
Despite a violent few years in the Marines, Russ had a big heart that matched his big body, standing 6’3” and slightly under a lean 250 pounds. Red hair, dazzling green eyes, and requisite freckled cheeks gave him a boyish look, but make no mistake, he was well beyond boyish ways. He expected and respected loyalty from those he called friends and offered nothing less in return. Russ was always the first to step up, assess a situation tactically, and take action that often brought elements of surprise, violence of action, and overwhelming force. He was not the type of man spoiling for a fight, but if a fight was in the offing, he was the guy you wanted with you.
Book 2 brings about significant changes for Russ as he remains faithful to his recent vows of fidelity to his new wife, Dr. Cara Williams. With AIMEE already in his mind, Cara was troubled by his proximity to an AI application. Who was this AIMEE thing, this AIMEE person? Was her husband closer to the AI than she thought possible? Did he have something to hide? When he found himself and his team of Marines in dire straits, he called on AIMEE for help, and she did. She opened her mind and invited Russ into hers to form a singularity—a single conscience—through which he gained access to her enhanced SAI capabilities. AIMEE enabled Russ’s mission’s success, but it did not sit well with Cara afterward, and he had another battle to face that he wished he didn’t.
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Book #5 – Untethered – Video – Review
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This story was released in my Amazon Portfolio, along with the rest of the thrilling tales that have been published so far: https://amzn.to/3uuONzj
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