2023-07-17 07:27
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description
<p>Arthur Trewe is a debugger: an operative sent to corrupted virtual reality worlds to rescue players trapped there. In such hacked servers, known as black shards, nothing is off limits – not even pain, brain damage or full brain death.</p> <p>At the heart of each black shard is a rogue AI game-master known as a dreamer. To free users, operatives assume the identity of a character. They have to stay in character to avoid being detected by the AI until they have rescued all the players. Then it's time to find and face the rogue AI itself.</p> <p>After the deaths of a series of human operatives, AI debugging agents are deployed. They're so good at hunting down dreamers that they're put in charge of debugging missions, but they still need human partners. At first, Arthur isn't thrilled to babysit his own potential job replacement. Yet Mantis, his AI partner, is smart, funny and charming. So much so that, between missions, he spends more time with her than dealing with his problems.</p> <p>At the rate his fellow operatives are dying, Arthur might not mind a change of profession. But first he's determined to qualify for a Gold Level career performance bonus by completing 25 missions. The bonus money would get him out of the refugee camp he calls home and cover the treatment needed by his father, who suffers from a condition caused by excessive VR exposure.</p> <p>Yet when a series of missions gone awry raise questions about the nature of the dreamers and the VR games themselves, Arthur must choose between what's left of his career as a VR operative, his growing feelings for Mantis and uncovering the truth behind the rogue game-worlds.</p>
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