Cerenovo: The Complete Series by Michael S. Nuckols

Release date: September 21, 2018

Subgenre: Technothriller, Cyberpunk

About Cerenovo: The Complete Series: 

 

A mind-bending series that questions the nature of reality and the depths of human compassion.

Ridley Pierce is as surprised as anyone when a polymorphic phishing virus becomes sentient. As a plague ravages the world, he desperately tries to communicate with the entity. Upon making contact, he compels the intelligence to create technologies unlike any that have ever existed, pushing the world into a sinister new age. As people rot in immersive virtual reality and dark-matter scans reveal the secrets of the brain, Ridley begins to question whether the entity wishes to help, or to destroy, mankind.

This box-set includes the novels "Emergent," "Exogenetic," "Entanglement," and "Entropy."

 

Excerpt:

 

Chapter 1 of Entanglement 

 

A body lay in the street.  Blood gushed from the decapitated woman’s neck as a drone carried her head away.

Another delivery drone paused to scan Fang Chen’s face. She had no time to put on her motorcycle helmet. She had no time to decide where she would go or what she would do. She hopped onto her motorcycle, pressed the accelerator, and raced down the street.

A gyroscopic ground drone emerged from an alley. Fang turned the bike towards the Ukon Tower Plaza. She swerved to avoid a stalled car and then sped onto the empty sidewalk. The ground drone pursued her. She dodged a fallen policeman and then another corpse. Where would she go?

The metallic drone continued its pursuit. The high-pitched motor was drowned out by the thunder of her engine. She jumped the curb and flew down a side-street towards the interstate.

An Army helicopter flew overhead, fired a rocket towards the Green Dial, and an explosion shook the ground.

Fang looked into her mirror. The silver beast grew closer.

Another drone hovered in the sky above her. “We only wish to save you,” it called, “You are an important member of society. You must be saved.”

She held up her hand and gave the drone the middle finger. She pushed the motorcycle to its limit, pulling away from both of the mechanical harvesters. She swerved again, barely avoiding a tranquilizer dart that hit her handlebars and bounced away.

Her mind raced. The machines would be relentless. She had to find a place of safety.

A young man was still alive on the pavement, barely struggling as the screws in the helmet drilled into his skull. An LED glowed as the machine sedated him.

Had Lucy done this? Had Fang so offended the AI that it was now seeking its revenge?

Fang swerved onto a side street. A pharmacy kiosk sat at the end. She had stolen from it many times. She hopped off her bike, ran to the kiosk, let it scan her face, and then entered a code to bypass its security system.

“Come on… Come on…” she pleaded.

“Please remain still,” the drone called from the air.

A dart struck her in the back, piercing her thick leather coat. The sharp tip did not penetrate her skin.

“Access granted,” the kiosk said.

The lock opened with a click. Fang pulled the heavy steel door open and dashed into the armored compartment. The lights came on. She pulled the door behind her and pushed a bolt into place, locking the door from the inside. The wheeled drone banged against the door. She plucked the dart from her coat, looking at the hole in the leather with irritation. “Damn it.”

The small room was lined with empty bottles, bins of pharmaceuticals, labeling machines, and other automated systems. “Maybe…” she muttered.

The drones were surely using conventional tranquilizers. She needed a drug that would combat the sedative. She found a bin of pills labeled Altinaa. The drug was given to soldiers during combat to avoid fatigue and promote aggression. Maybe the stimulant would help overcome a tranquilizer if the drones found their way into the kiosk? She took two of the pills. Her heart began to beat faster. She placed more pills in her pocket.

She looked at her phone. The machines continued broadcasting. They controlled all webpages, all emergency alerts, all email, and every voice signal. Every form of communication was theirs. Do not fear us. We only wish to save you.

Bottles of red, blue and green syrup were stacked in a dispensing unit. Normally, the kiosk would blend the syrup with custom mixes of prescribed medications, label the concoction, and then dispense it to the patient. She opened one and then sipped the sickly sweet concoction. She was reminded of the red syrup that was fed to hummingbirds.

The sound of drilling came from above. A steel hummingbird had landed on the roof of the kiosk. Fang collapsed against the wall. How long could she remain inside?

The ground shook again as the Army fought to save Seattle.

 

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About Michael S. Nuckols: 

Michael S. Nuckols' first novel, The Winter Calf, was inspired by his childhood in the hills of Virginia. The eerie story of a woman haunted by her lost son continues in the 2016 sequel, The Wasted Grave. The third installment the Maple Gap Series, The Whispering Souls, was released in July 2016 and visits the Mayfield family two years after the end of The Winter Calf. 

Michael has published two stand-alone novels. Frozen Highway tells the contemporary story of a militia leader threatening a former soldier and her family in rural Alaska. Similarly, The Last Buffalo Soldier follows a war-hero fighting discrimination in the segregated South of the 1950s. In 2018, Michael ventured into the world of near-future science fiction with the publication of The Cerenovo Series.

Michael grew up in central Virginia. He has a degree in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia. He has lived in Georgia and, most recently, Alaska. He currently lives in the small town of Antwerp in Northern New York State with his spouse, two dogs, two cats, and a host of other farm animals.

 

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