BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (53)
  1. Dedication
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Chapter Four
  6. Chapter Five
  7. Chapter Six
  8. Chapter Seven
  9. Chapter Eight
  10. Chapter Nine
  11. Chapter Ten
  12. Chapter Eleven
  13. Chapter Twelve
  14. Chapter Thirteen
  15. Chapter Fourteen
  16. Chapter Fifteen
  17. Chapter Sixteen
  18. Chapter Seventeen
  19. Chapter Eighteen
  20. Chapter Nineteen
  21. Chapter Twenty
  22. Chapter Twenty-One
  23. Chapter Twenty-Two
  24. Chapter Twenty-Three
  25. Chapter Twenty-Four
  26. Chapter Twenty-Five
  27. Chapter Twenty-Six
  28. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  29. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  30. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  31. Chapter Thirty
  32. Chapter Thirty-One
  33. Chapter Thirty-Two
  34. Chapter Thirty-Three
  35. Chapter Thirty-Four
  36. Chapter Thirty-Five
  37. Chapter Thirty-Six
  38. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  39. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  40. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  41. Chapter Forty
  42. Chapter Forty-One
  43. Chapter Forty-Two
  44. Chapter Forty-Three
  45. Chapter Forty-Four
  46. Chapter Forty-Five
  47. Chapter Forty-Six
  48. Chapter Forty-Seven
  49. Epilogue
  50. Preview of Malice
  51. Preview of Incognito
  52. Acknowledgments
  53. About the Author

He licks his lips and takes a deep breath. “The scary part is that the Super Brain is artificially intelligent. It will constantly keep learning, and if a large part of society uploads their minds, the technology might keep growing to the point where it becomes smarter than Madden and its teachers. Anything that big has a life of its own—we’d be up against yottabytes of data—and the machine could end humanity as we know it. Like, no more humans. Not even apathetic, brainwashed ones. It would be Disconnects against the machines.”

Ice runs down my spine, and I stare at him, wrapping my head around the enormity of it all. “That’s terrifying.”

“It’s tough to digest.” He nods.

“How can you be so calm?”

“Because I think truth will overcome. We’re going to do our job. We’re going to stop the Super Brain in the first place, and someday we will have Utopia. It will evolve naturally. It just takes time.” He nudges me with his elbow, doing his McConaughey. “Stick with me, kid. I’m telling you, we can have it all.”

Giving in to the urge to hug him, I whisper “thank you” in his ear. A moment passes, and I step awkwardly backward, appalled at my display of human emotion.

He laughs. “If we’re going to beat Madden and the Super Brain, we better get busy. Locks you seem to have down, but how are you with ciphers?” He takes back Nineteen Eighty-Four and replaces it.

“Not very good,” I admit. “I worked on them with Allard a bit when I first got here, but we’ve been concentrating on other things…”

“Well, code breaking is my specialty. We only have four weeks to get you up to speed, but I think you can do it. On the night of the party, we’ll have them all cowering in fear.”

“What party?”

“The Into the Woods Party. It happens the night before the Quest, and it also happens to be New Year’s Eve.”

“Let me guess—it takes place in the woods?”

“Yep. Everyone goes. It’s our last hurrah. Once partners are assigned, we aren’t allowed to talk about our part of the heist—unless we need to share information.”

Ducking into the corridor, we leave the library and wind our way to the surface. “I’m not sure I’ll go… I’ll probably need to study, if it’s the night before the Quest.”

“Don’t decide yet. I told you, stick with me. In a month, you may be ready to talk some smack. Garrett and Chloe have no clue what’s coming.”

I laugh. “We’ll see.”

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

December 20X5, Keystone