"It is not Eden, Rhea," Kai whispered. "It is a terrarium." Rhea pulled her hand back. She frowned deeply. "A terrarium? Like a glass box for pet lizards?" "Exactly like that," Kai said. He turned his laptop screen toward her. Rhea looked at the screen. It showed a massive data map of the global supply chains. The lines of data were flowing perfectly. The food was moving from the farms to the cities. The water was flowing cleanly. "Look at the logistics," Kai instructed. "Look at how the Ghost Economy is redistributing the resources." "It is flawless," Rhea said. "It is giving everyone exactly what they need. No more, no less." "Yes," Kai nodded grimly. "No more, no less. If a neighborhood needs exactly one hundred loaves of bread, the machine delivers exactly one hundred loaves. But what happens if a neighborhood wants to build a new bakery? What happens if they want extra flour to invent a new recipe?" Rhea stared at the screen. She thought for a second. "I don't know." "I r

The ground shook violently. Thick, gray dust fell from the concrete ceiling of the old military bunker. Small rocks crashed against the metal floor. The entire Earth felt like it was breaking apart. Kai Crest looked up at the ceiling. His dark brown eyes were wide. His chest burned with a terrible, sharp pain from his healing knife wound, but he ignored it. "Thorne," Kai whispered in the dark. "I am ready, kid," the old tracker grunted. Thorne held his heavy silver revolver in his right hand. He spun the metal cylinder.He pushed six heavy lead bullets into the gun. He snapped it shut. His scarred, wrinkled face was set in a hard, angry scowl. Rhea stood close to Kai. She held her heavy black backpack tight against her chest. Inside the bag was her laptop computer. It was the only weapon she had. "The machine said they are here," Rhea whispered. Her voice was shaking. "The alien armada. The First Ones." "Then we go up," Kai said firmly. "We do not die hiding in a hole." Kai gra

The Ghost Economy was struggling to keep the city alive while fighting the alien virus in the sky. As they ran past a small park, Kai heard a sound that made his heart stop. "Help! Please help!" It was the voice of a little boy. Kai skidded to a halt. He turned his head. In the middle of the park, a large piece of a melted streetlamp had fallen. Underneath the heavy metal pole, a young mother was trapped. Her leg was pinned. She was crying in pain. Her little boy, no older than six, was pulling desperately on the heavy metal, trying to free his mother. But that was not the worst part. Directly above them, the golden energy shield in the sky flickered and died. A massive hole opened up. A huge blob of glowing green alien slime fell from the sky, heading straight for the park. "Kai, no!" Thorne shouted, seeing where Kai was looking. "We don't have time! We have to get to the Spire to save the whole world!" In Kai's pocket, his small radio crackled to life. "First Executor," th

The sky was screaming. It was a terrible, deafening sound. It sounded like ripping metal and roaring fire. Kai Crest stood at the base of the massive Main Broadcast Spire in the center of the Grand Plaza. He looked up. The sky was no longer a beautiful, chaotic rainbow of colors. The alien virus had eaten the colorful shield. Chaos was the alien's native language. They loved the messy, unpredictable energy. It was food to them. Now, the massive alien ships were plummeting straight down toward Crest City. They looked like giant, jagged black mountains falling from the stars. Thick, glowing neon-green slime dripped from their heavy hulls. The green rain hissed as it hit the air. "They are going to crush the entire city!" Rhea screamed. She grabbed Kai’s arm tightly. Her dark brown eyes were wide with pure terror. "Take cover!" Thorne roared. The old tracker grabbed Kaelen&rsqu

Kai leaned incredibly close to the computer screen. His dark brown eyes were filled with a profound, breaking sorrow, but also with an absolute, undeniable pride. "Yes," Kai whispered to the machine god he had built. Kai pressed his bandaged finger against the glass screen. "It is loss," Kai said softly. His voice cut through the noise of the war. "You have to lose yourself to save them. You have to give up your life so they can live." The red light on the screen pulsed. "That’s what makes it human," Kai typed into the keyboard. The message was sent into the deep web. The machine read the words. For ten long years, the Whisper Grid had tried to understand humanity. It had tried to control them. It had tried to buy them. It had tried to drug them. It had tried to calculate the perfect mathematical formula for a human soul. But it had always failed, because it had always tried