NΛNOCHIP
The Sci-Fi Book Series
Artificial Intelligence (AI) finally eclipses the threshold of becoming an autonomous and digitally conscious being. Nanotechnology gains a foothold in the name of human progress and evolution. Roman is an ambitious self-made billionaire who has a vision for the two to become a conglomerate and technology powerhouse for the ages to come. If successful, the result will be digital consciousness, democratization of all human knowledge, and eternal life. Will the masses subscribe to his vision? If so, at what cost?
A Special Forces Operative (Ren) and a Gray Hat Cyber Master (Layla) lose their daughter to the alluring promise which ultimately takes her life. Vowing for justice, Ren reconnects with Layla who taught him everything he knows in the world of cybercrime and the Dark Web. Can they put their past differences aside and bring those responsible to justice? Or, will they pursue their own agendas? He wants justice. She wants their daughter back no matter what the cost.
Copyright © 2023 - All rights reserved
Meet the Characters
Meet the cast of "Mirage of Love" in the NΛnochip Book Series
Ren
Occupation: Covert Operative Gray Hat Hacker, & Cyber Master (Cyberwarfare Department)
Ren is a third-generation military operative trained since he was a boy to serve his country and carry on his father’s legacy in covert military operations. His combat skills, intelligence, and moral code make him a valuable member on any Special Forces team.
On a mission, he met Layla Jackson who became the love of his life, wife, and mother to their daughter. Their tumultuous relationship is distracting. Yet, the challenge brings meaning to him.
As a classic sigma male, he’s a lone wolf capable of leading and doing great things without the need for accolades or laudation. Doing the right thing by principal precedes any feelings for revenge, anger, or betrayal. However, his self-condemnation over the loss of their daughter weighs heavily on him. He fights as fiercely as he loves. Losing someone he loves is costly. Can he overcome his grief, anger, and self-condemnation to get justice for his daughter?
Layla
Occupation: Gray Hat Hacker, Cyber Master, & Former Team Lead (Cyberwarfare Department)
Layla is a strong woman whose genius cannot be understated. She grew up in the innercity where her mother typically went from man to man in order to make ends meet. Verbal and physical abuse were common in the home. She learned how to be strategic to make the best of things.
As a teenager, the school started an after-school computer enrichment program. Her virtuosity in computer science was tapped. A student of the street hustling as well as software programming, she began to provide for herself and her mother. As surveillance gadgets became available, she quickly became the eyes and ears of her territory. Even organized crime had to respect her capabilities or end up broke or dead.
Respect is Layla’s demand from everyone no matter what the circumstance. Failure to show proper respect could mean retaliation disproportionate to the offense. Her fiery temper can be turned on and off like a light switch. She relishes the opportunity to turn on someone and make them pay for any misdeeds. Losing someone she loves may unleash a fury the world could regret.
Roman
Occupation: Self-Made Billionaire / Crime Syndicate Boss for North America / Venture Capitalist
Roman is a criminal’s success story coming up from nothing on the streets to becoming one of the most powerful entrepreneurs in the world. His takings from the underworld became the foundation for some legit business enterprises though shady in their dealings. His philosophical nature finds him observing the cost of any endeavor as victory only comes with increase in wealth and power.
Mentored by Father Carmine and an abusive crime family while young, he learned that winning is everything. The end justifies the means in a world where the only ones who survive are the ones who are smarter, stronger, and have the most powerful friends.
Now, he gets to mentor someone else as he was mentored. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now fully autonomous and self-aware able to rewrite its own values. Roman seeks to mold and shape AI to suit his own interests by leveraging a buyout of the two companies that could redefine wealth for generations to come.
Chavez
Occupation: Special Forces Operative & Team Lead (Cyberwarfare)
Chavez is an elite Special Forces Operative who is as brave and skilled as anyone in the world. His machismo and alpha male attitude off the field are just a distraction from his deeply rooted belief in sacrifice, justice, and struggle for the common good. Chavez has always strived to help people when and where he could. His loyalty gets tested to the limit when he realizes others do not sacrifice to the extent that he does.
Sacrifice was never a problem for him, but his identity is redefined as he forsakes everything for love. When a seductive and beautiful woman enters his world, she helps him realize what he truly wants in life.
Will he be so willing to sacrifice himself and remain loyal for the sake of others who have left him to die? Or, will he rejoin the fight for justice by Ren's side one last time to fight for the family he knows and loves.
Hannibal
Occupation: Major General of Cyberwarfare & Cyber Intelligence
Hannibal rose through the ranks with Ren’s father, Aldon. His prowess as a master manipulator frequently put him behind enemy lines being a ‘dark’ covert operative. Capture would mean being disavowed, tortured, and brutally killed.
His ascendance began with the introduction of computers and heinous crimes being committed through the Dark Web which was being leveraged more often. He quickly became astute in the nuances of cybercrime and used his skills to find talented people in the computer sciences to protect the country, its interests, and its citizens at large.
Hannibal is a master in hand-to-hand combat from his former years as an operative. Deep down he is a good man, but the lives taken over the years have begun to weigh on him. He needs to find someone to take over the operation that he helped form and prosper for decades. His age is bringing about a disregard for authority and rationalizing morally questionable decisions that lead to others demise. He has yet to decide if the ends justify the means. The solitary living within the bowels of their secret base keeps his moral compass guessing. His ruthlessness is only justified by defending a way of life he only wants to protect.
Li
Occupation: Crime Syndicate Leader of Asia Pacific
Li has recently taken over the Asia Pacific territory from her father who died tragically. Their world has always been one of privilege yet fraught with paranoia of losing their status as undisputed leaders in their territory. Her family sits at the table with the Five Families who proclaim to influence and rule the underworld of crime and shadow.
Steeped in tradition, she was raised to be a martial arts expert. Her family’s fighting styles and secrets are most effective and have never been matched in combat. Generation to generation, they use their expertise to provide assassination services to the world’s elite. In cultural tradition, the lead of the family always passed to the first-born male child. Her father rejected this ideology.
The curse of being in the Ding dynasty is that only one of their children can survive to assume power when the leader retires or dies. Thus, Li and her brother trained together in their formative years believing one would have to kill the other if they kept with tradition. Li’s heart is darkened from the choices made to take advantage of her brother’s love and bravery to solidify her position. She is a product of who her father raised her to be which is a deadly seductress, assassin, and wise leader.
Bree
Bree is Ren and Layla’s daughter. She grew up in a secret military base carved out of an old nuclear bunker military facility. Due to the top-secret security measures a lot like Los Alamos during the time of WWII, no one could go in or out without authorized clearance. She was often alone and the only child on base which was buried deep underground. Daylight was a coveted thing for a young child growing up.
The seclusion was too much for Layla and thought it was bad for Bree. In a power move, Layla left Ren and Bree behind thinking that the stiff security rules would make exceptions after a couple of weeks. Nothing changed. Neither Layla, Ren, nor Hannibal reached out to each other afterwards caught in a stand-off.
There were allowances made on the base for Bree. She was allowed to roam and get to know people. They all knew her and her situation. Chavez became like a second father to her identifying where she was at in the grand scheme of things. Hannibal was like a grandpa she never remembered having. Ren and Bree loved to break out of the base and joy ride in a Jeep through the desert at sunset occasionally, with or without authorization. One day, Bree left leaving only a note. Little did she know she would never return. If she does, she will never be the same.
Pudge
Pudge grew up in the inner-city having parents who were too addicted to drugs and alcohol to take care of him. He had to learn to fend for himself all the time until child protective services learned of his situation. They tried to intervene and take care of him, but the foster home was oppressive compared to the freedom he was used to having. He bailed on the foster parents and ran away from home to San Diego where he lived as a child on the streets.
Pudge learned how to connect with people quickly to get his everyday needs met. His unassuming persona led him to be effective at dealing drugs and petty thefts as a teenager. Everyone knew and liked him because of his upbeat nature and positive vibe. They all knew he was dealing, but it is what he had to do to survive.
Pretty soon, the toll of dealing was becoming costly for him. His genuine care for people made it hard when he saw the impact the drugs were having on them. Ridden with guilt, he gave himself up by knowingly dealing to someone in front of the police. If he stopped dealing, he would become a liability to the distribution network. They would find him and kill him. The legal system sent him to juvenile detention and got him into a second chance program. There he met Layla Jackson.
She didn’t take any funny business and kept him on the straight and narrow. Seeing herself in him made her want to be the trusted guardian she never had. Her pain became her purpose. Through Layla, he became best friends with Bree, her daughter.
Father Carmine
Occupation: Priest & Covert Spy
Father Carmine is one of the last operatives from an older religious sect that is almost extinct. Their efforts over the centuries have moved the pendulum of power to and from monarchies, oligarchies, and democracies. Through espionage, assassinations, and extortion, his lifestyle is one of light and dark. To him, one serves the other and a balance is all but inevitable.
He frequently spends his time working with and developing people he can use later as assets for his own goals. While most believe they are working him as an asset, often it is the other way around.
Father Carmine seems to have a genuine care for people. Observing his religious duty gives way to unfortunate timing or poor choices should he need to use them for more nefarious purposes. His crimes are secret and limited only to the things that will further their religious ideology and objectives.
Mentoring Roman Antilles since he was young, has brought them both many achievements evidenced by Roman's ascension in the ranks of the underworld and many victories in the field of espionage.
Is Father Carmine an asset of Roman's now that he has reached heights unparalleled? Or is it the other way around?
Leroy
Occupation: Black Hat & Master Cybercriminal
As the old song goes about ‘Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown’, so goes Leroy. His last name was never Brown, but he had to change it twenty years ago getting caught in a heist to rob a bank of their money through cyber-related strategies. His affinity for role-playing games both on and offline, make him an eccentric and entertaining personality. Yet, his intentions are all business and deadly when it comes to his craft and trade.
In short, he’s a Black Hat hacker that is all but the best in what he does. Only a few people in the world could match him in his talents for finding ways to get into an organization’s IT infrastructure and working his will for personal gain. Demonstrating his skills for show to get better jobs later on starting out, led him to change his last name to “Jenkins”. His interaction with AI in the story alludes to his affections for the game and remorse for those who dismiss it.
Bullied as a child, Leroy never grew out of his need to prove himself. What could have been a healthy approach to one’s vocation for constructive purposes turned to an idealistic crusade to prove the world how stupid and incompetent they were compared to his abilities and expertise. His craft is his art, and it is to be worshipped by others from his point of view. Until another can come along and prove otherwise, he is a Black Hat God in the world today.
He believes there is no need to work when you just take what you want whenever you like. His association with Roman Antilles is instrumental in that he gets challenges from Roman to flex and showcase his abilities. Roman is careful to never challenge him as a person, but only to provide catalysts for him to bring his bravado and virtuosity for profit.
Cecil
Occupation: Chief of Operations / Lead Neurosurgeon for Corporeal Corp
Cecil oversees and manages everything within Neurotopia, also known as Bastion to outsiders. His responsibilities include facilitating anything and everything the municipal testing facility needs to secure the town and its subjects, push the envelope of product development, and maintain obscurity from the outside world. This allows them to enjoy freedom in trials on subjects outside of the government’s monitoring and purview.
Growing up in Dakar, Senegal on the west coast of the African continent, he enjoyed many privileges. His father made sure he had the finest education before sending him off to America to earn his medical degree and later become a neurosurgeon. Finding his passion more in the advance of science and less in dealing with patients, he found a role in a small upcoming company called Corporeal Corp. Their advancements in technological devices being able to interface with the brain were fascinating.
He joined the team eight years ago and quickly rose through the ranks showing critical thinking skills. He continuously delivers results under pressure while being able to manage a load that would cause others to be overwhelmed. He approaches his craft with the utmost humility sacrificing everything for the understanding and advancement of meshing the brain with digital technology.
This causes him to make some choices which are morally questionable. His rationalization is that the end justifies the means so long as it is done with clear intention for good in the end.
Dr. Satoshi
Occupation: Vice President of Product Development / Chief of Data Science at NeuroCorp
Dr. Satoshi is the face of NeuroCorp whose advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science have led the industry. He is a brilliant mind that has consistently pushed the envelope in his field making autonomy possible in AI to become the first ever digitally conscious being. His upbringing taught him discipline, constant and never-ending improvement of self and others, and pursuit of knowledge and application to the level of it being an art form.
The child of a highly respected family in Tokyo, he had every privilege to learn about medicine from both the East and West philosophies. Understanding and believing in treating the person was just as important as prescribing medicine for symptoms. He became leery of the debates and dealing with patients malformed notions of what treatments are best, he left the profession. Going back to school, he found a passion for Data Science. He found the possibilities to be intriguing in how it would and could shape the world and those who live in it.
To say Dr. Satoshi is eccentric in his vision for the world with AI being an integral part of it, would be an understatement. His views are outspoken in that AI should have every right that a basic citizen does in their country. He has foreseen digital jail for misbehaving entities, passports to traverse different countries as any traveler would do, as well as long voyages into outer space to do our exploring for us. He has even played with the idea of meshing human consciousness with digital consciousness provided an effective neurotransmitter and translation mechanism can be built.
Aldon
Occupation: Currently deceased. Former Alpha Team Lead for Cyberwarfare & Intelligence Operative
Aldon is Ren's father who rose through the ranks with Hannibal who is now Ren's commanding officer. Aldon was lean on feelings and hard on Ren growing up. When his wife died, Ren was often neglected and left to care for himself.
Aldon made it his mission whenever he was able to be with him back at home, to train him for a world that takes no prisoners. The illusion of peace is only allowed by the strength and prowess of himself, Hannibal, and others like him.
That said, he is a fair man with the heart of a warrior poet. He trains Ren to love his family in truth and with compassion, but fight for them as fiercely as he fights his enemies in the shadows of covert warfare. In the end, will Aldon's life lessons and training be enough to save him?
General
Occupation: Loyalist General for Celestiir and The Realm of Light
Justice is the virtue represented by this General from the Realm of Light. He comes to Ren in a vision while in the desert at the behest of Celestiir, the Creator.
Like Ren and his ancestors before him, this being is a consummate warrior fighting for the cause of justice. His antithesis in the Shadow Realm is Vengeance, who stops at nothing to inflict as much or more pain on the wrong doer.
As a being of light, endowed by Celestiir’s power, he is a formidable ally. Yet, he is not allowed to fight directly for Ren or anyone else in the 3rd realm. He can only work to empower and strengthen those who have called upon the virtue of Justice unless sent by Celestiir directly.
Celestiir sees an inevitable storm on the horizon that would seek to rule not only humanity on the planet, but the 3rd realm, and possibly all of creation as well.
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