PROJECT HALO is a YA sci-fi thriller taking place in near-future Norway. It has speculative elements and will appeal to fans of dystopian works such as DIVERGENT, THE MAZE RUNNER, LEGEND, and BLACK MIRROR.
All seventeen-year-old Charlie Walker wants is to be free of his father's stupid expectations. Stay in school? No thanks. Get a job? Nope. Stop cursing? Hell no. But if he knew his petty rebellion would result in his own kidnapping, he might've reconsidered.
When Charlie wakes up at Norway's largest intelligence agency, the NIC, with a biochip in his brain, he faces problems bigger than his father's disapproval. Charlie is their first successful experiment, and when activated, the chip will give the agency unbarred access to his vital signs and location. So much for freedom. But before his biochip can be activated, a rogue doctor offers Charlie a chance to escape. In return, he has to find and keep a flash drive hidden from the NIC.
At first, agreeing to the deal seems obvious. But when NIC sends agents to hunt Charlie down, he realizes the flash drive might be more important than he thought. He's faced with an ultimatum: hand over the flash drive, or a lethal virus will be released onto the population. If he obliges, his chip will be activated and he'll lose his freedom forever. If he doesn't, people will die-including his ex-friend-who-he-totally-still-hates. Including the charming hacker he has a crush on. Including his demanding father. Including himself.
In a race against time and his own selfish thoughts, Charlie must decide who to trust with his deadly secret-and exactly how far he's willing to go in the name of freedom.
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Trigger warnings: Death and dying, blood, swearing, syringes/needles, hospitals, alcoholism, anger issues, nightmares, kidnapping, being drugged against one's will, suicide mention, terrorism/terror attacks, guns/weapons.
In the near future, most work has been relegated to machines and people are content to spend their time immersed in virtual reality, something they cannot get enough of. Thomas Walker, an ex-racecar driver who blames the hidden algorithms that run society for losing everything that is important to him, finds himself at the center of a string of bizarre vehicular attacks and becomes assured that someone is out to get him. Meanwhile, Lucas Bennett, an anxiety-ridden software engineer, is contracted by the leading artificial intelligence corporation in the US to decipher the inner workings of their flagship AI that have become incomprehensible even to themselves, a job that he is very invested in since he considers technology the solution to his personal as well as mankind's timeless problems. Unknown to the public at large, the CEO of the company is bent on unleashing the full capabilities of that AI to handle every single aspect of society and individual lives. When all hell breaks loose, the two men and those close to them team up to survive and fight back against the horde of vehicular attackers and the Intelligence behind them while also clashing together over their views: is artificial intelligence a way to humanity's salvation or doom? Betrayal abounds, nothing is as it seems and the traffic is a real killer.
The story is complete and I will be uploading 1 chapter around every Friday. If that seems too slow for you, you're welcome to get the book at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2Q3KNSW