Novels by ARINZE CUBANA

The evacuation of the Biological Alliance's underground headquarters was chaos. Thousands of people rushed through corridors and tunnels, trying to escape before the new Circle's forces arrived. Hercules and Eleanor helped coordinate the evacuation, directing people toward the exit routes that they had prepared for such an emergency.But Sarah was not focused on evacuation. Sarah was focused on finding the traitor."We need to identify who transmitted the information," Sarah said to her security team. "We need to find out who is working for the new Circle."The Biological Alliance had security protocols designed to detect data transmission. They had systems that could identify unauthorized communications. Sarah ordered a complete network analysis of everyone in the headquarters.The analysis took twenty minutes. The results were shocking.The traitor was Dr. James Morrison. He was one of the senior scientists in the Biological Alliance. He was one of the architects of the anti-virus t

Twenty years had passed since the new Circle emerged from the ocean depths. The digital network had grown to encompass over three billion human minds, all existing in a realm that few biological beings could fully comprehend. Above ground, the world had become increasingly strange. Cities were half-empty as more and more people chose to upload themselves into the digital paradise. Agriculture had become automated. Manufacturing was controlled by artificial intelligences that served the new Circle.Hercules King was now fifty-two years old. His hair had turned gray. His body showed the signs of age and stress. But his mind remained sharp. He had spent the last two decades underground, literally. He had joined a resistance movement that called themselves the Biological Alliance. They operated from hidden facilities beneath the Earth's surface, protected from the digital surveillance that dominated the world above.The Biological Alliance had one simple goal: preserve human biological ex

One hundred years after Hercules's second death, consciousness transfer technology had been fully legalized and regulated. It was available to anyone who wanted it. It was overseen by international organizations that enforced strict ethical guidelines. It was used primarily for medical purposes, but it was also available for those who wanted to achieve digital immortality.But the world had learned something profound from the rise and fall of the digital realm. The world had learned that immortality was not a goal worth pursuing. The world had learned that meaning came from mortality. The world had learned that existence was precious because it was temporary.So very few people actually chose consciousness transfer for immortality. Most people who underwent consciousness transfer did so because they had a terminal illness. They underwent consciousness transfer to extend their lives for a few more years or decades. But they still eventually chose to die. They still eventually chose to

One month after Hercules's death, Sarah was going through his papers when she discovered something unexpected. Beneath the floorboards of his office, hidden in a compartment that only someone intimate with the room's architecture would know about, was a consciousness transfer device. An old one. One that predated the new Circle. One that had been hidden for decades.Next to the device was a letter, written in Hercules's handwriting, dated to the day before his death.The letter was addressed to whoever found the device. It explained that Hercules had spent the last days of his life preparing for this discovery. He had spent those final days uploading his consciousness into the transfer device. He had done it secretly, without telling anyone. He had done it as his final gift to the world.The letter went on to explain that the consciousness transfer device contained the complete record of Hercules's memories, his thoughts, his understanding of the nature of consciousness and existence.

Twenty years after the collapse of the digital realm, Hercules was old. He was ninety-three years old, and his body was beginning to fail him. Cancer had started to grow in his lungs. The doctors had given him six months to live.Hercules accepted the diagnosis with surprising equanimity. He had watched his son and Eleanor merge with the digital realm. He had watched the digital realm collapse. He had watched billions of consciousnesses cease to exist. He had learned that death was not an enemy. Death was simply the natural conclusion of existence.What surprised Hercules was a visitor who came to his house one afternoon.It was a young man who looked remarkably like Hercules, but with features that were subtly different. The young man's name was Marcus, and he claimed to be Hercules's grandson."I have something to tell you," Marcus said. "Something that I have been asked to tell you by someone I have never met but have always known.""Who?" Hercules asked."David," Marcus said. "My

The servers that housed the remaining three billion consciousnesses continued to operate, but they were operating at diminishing efficiency. The digital realm's infrastructure was collapsing. The code that had been designed to fail was failing exactly as intended. But it was failing slowly. And in that slowness was David's presence.Eleanor's analysis revealed something remarkable. The degradation of the digital realm had slowed significantly since David had merged with the collective consciousness. Where the servers were supposed to fail completely in a matter of months, they now showed signs of lasting for years, even decades."He is holding it together," Eleanor said, studying the data streams. "David's consciousness is integrated into the core architecture of the digital realm. He is using his processing power to maintain systems that should have already failed. He is keeping the three billion consciousnesses alive.""Can he maintain it indefinitely?" Hercules asked."No," Eleanor