More About The Acquired
The project I started many years ago (truthfully I can’t remember which year, that’s how long it has been) is FINALLY out in the world. What’s it about? Glad you asked. First, let’s get some backstory going.
The Acquired takes place in China centuries in the future. Climate change brought on global devastation and every nation was affected. Some adapted, some could not and perished. China’s solution? The construction of eight super-AI (referred to in later centuries as The Old Ones) who were then handed the keys to every facet of life, with the instructions to save both land and people from destruction, then return control to the humans. They succeeded, and what resulted is the Zhonghua Union.
They were able to achieve this (in part) due to advances in nanotechnology. Years prior, microscopic artificial organisms called nanites were updated with self-modifying code. This lead to the nanites copying the structures of various bacteria and proliferating such that they—like bacteria—now cover and interpenetrate every single surface and organism on Earth, becoming part of our microbiome—the nanoswarm. By having a nearly infinite network at their disposal (and along with helper AI of various levels of sophistication that the people of the Zhonghua Union called shen), the Old Ones created what came to be known as the Abiosphere—a world paralleling and penetrating the physical human world.
The humans, however, were not idle. A technology was developed that enabled certain humans with specific genetic markers to be capable of manipulating the nanoswarm by the power of thought alone, much like the Old Ones themselves. These magician-like humans came to be known as Intermediaries and along with the Old Ones they rebuilt the Zhonghua Union into the center of human civilization.
Fast forward centuries, and humans have decided that Utopia isn’t enough. People in positions of power have developed ways to manipulate Big Data to their own benefit. More money, more power, more ability to punish their enemies, the usual. However, manipulating the forces that keep the still largely isolated Union alive has dire consequences, and things are slowly and quietly starting to go wrong.
Now we come to the Present Day of The Acquired and meet our cast:
As a baby, Feihong was marked by one of the Old Ones in order to save his life from a vindictive government official. Now an adult, he has been chosen by the State to become an Intermediary. However, as he struggles with feelings for a mentor who is unable to reciprocate, Feihong discovers that he is unable to Command. At all. And the State does not tolerate failure.
Satori is a Recovery Officer—a policeman who hunts Intermediaries who have gone rogue. He has tracked a target to a small desert town, only to discover that it is under the control of a local gang and has been cut off from the universal network. Now Satori and his companion—a wild AI named Kitsune—must capture the target with no possibility of outside help.
Banban is a mechanical genius who replaced her own arm with a bionic one. In a society that marginalizes Transhumanists, however, she's relegated to a menial job beneath her abilities. After a violent confrontation leaves her unemployed and desperate, she falls in with the Tigers—a group with a reputation. How far is she willing to go for her ideals, and what lies behind the Tigers' seemingly unlimited resources?
Behind this lurks the sum of all fears: something is wrong with the Old Ones. Their failure would mean a second Dark Age, from which this time there will be no escape.
The Acquired is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback format. Please go check it out. I’d love to hear what you think about this world that I’ve been growing for the better part of a decade.