Between the Lost and the Forgotten
Abstract
In a far-distant future, where humans possess the technology to link their minds directly to an immersive virtual universe, most Americans have permanently fled to this alternate reality, leaving a crumbling world and their withering bodies behind. Meanwhile, those who cannot afford access to this integrated simulation are forced to build and sustain their own makeshift systems—economic, social, and political—to survive outside the new technocratic order. For years, these groups, nicknamed “The Lost” and “The Forgotten,” have coexisted in an uneasy truce, living in two different words though their physical bodies sit only miles from each other. All that will change, however, when a young Forgotten woman named Zinya Feniks, hoping to follow in her deceased parents’ footsteps, gains employment with the Lost. Through her work, she’ll slowly discover a series of clues hinting at the dark truth behind her parents’ deaths, and as she unravels that mystery, she’ll need to contend with the shadowy power hidden deep within the Lost’s frame-perfect world, one hell-bent on destroying everything she’s ever known.
Description
This thesis has been embargoed for 10 years. It will not be available until April 2032 at the earliest.
Keywords
Dystopia, Artificial intelligence, Science fiction, Virtual reality, Neural implant, Novel