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Clement Kichuk
Author
BITS
C.J. Kichuk, author
A traumatized FBI agent seeking peace and redemption is recruited into an experimental program that seeks to transfer his knowledge and experience into an artificial intelligence being. Clayton Rhodes, is a seasoned FBI agent with a kaleidoscope of identities and experiences spanning a 25-year career. His world was blown apart by the murder of his wife and young son. He blames himself and a year after their murders, seeking to lay his demons to rest, he visits Austin, Texas where he had lived with his family. He intervenes in a mass shooting event and is wounded. Nursing wounds from his latest ordeal, Clayton finds himself at a crossroads when an offer from a renowned psychiatrist, Doctor Raymond Ababio, a luminary in artificial intelligence, draws him into an experimental project. The objective is to train an AI entity, Aida, by allowing her to watch as Clayton relives his operational experiences. Clayton agrees but, as he participates, he sees incongruities, inconsistencies, and disturbing messages from a mysterious online contact, Reshod. Raymond persuades Clayton to continue by revealing that the next phase of the project will use Clayton’s experience from a prior operation (SANDCASTLE) against the brutal drug lord, Esteban Navarro, to plan a new operation against him. Clayton shares his recollection of SANDCASTLE in which he infiltrates Esteban’s family compound and embeds a listening trojan in its computer systems. He sees Esteban’s psychopathy and paranoia but is unable to persuade Carmen, Esteban’s wife, to escape with her children. Clayton believes that Esteban has become jealous of Clayton’s relationship with Carmen. The murder of Clayton’s family occurs shortly after SANDCASTLE and Clayton links Esteban’s jealousy and SANDCASTLE to their deaths. The objective of the new operation, HIGH TIDE, is to repair the malfunctioning trojan and extricate Esteban’s wife and children. Clayton’s personal agenda with Esteban makes his involvement in the follow-up operation irresistible. Raymond’s AI research is funded by Maxine (Max) Corbel, an unscrupulous entrepreneur who is the head of a consortium that aims to prove the value of AI-based operatives to the FBI. To Max, AI creations are merely tools. Raymond has a more nuanced view that evolves further as the project demonstrates the soulfulness of an AI entity. Max demands that the source of Clayton’s growing suspicions be discovered. Raymond uses that pretext to loosen the restrictive, protective, and therapeutic protocols that surround Clayton. This exposes the source of the Reshod messages and allows Clayton to uncover the truth. He was not wounded in Austin but killed. He is currently an artificial extension of Clayton Rhodes’ original existence and Aida is a real FBI agent who will undertake the lead role in the upcoming operation, HIGH TIDE. Raymond convinces a shaken Clayton to continue his participation. Clayton then teams with Aida and Carmen, to bring down Esteban. Adjusting to his new understanding of who and what he is, Clayton forges his own path forward in his new world. Max enacts a plan to destroy him and the multiverse in which he exists. When the dust settles, the project is terminated and as Raymond is sadly packing up his office, he receives a strong signal that Clayton has not only survived but has further manipulated both his new reality and the one he has left behind.
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