The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1) Brian Terenna (best novels to read to improve english txt) 📖

He raises his hand. “There’s more. I’m sure you have all seen this robot,” he says, pointing to Sunny.

My stomach drops. Is he going to try something? I slowly reach for my gun.

“Fae has created a human-level AI,” he says.

People gasp and go wide-eyed. Several Loyalists look at me with awe, but most of the Knights look horrified. Several of them put their hands on their guns.

Oh hell no.

“It’s an abomination,” shouts a female Knight with a birthmark on her cheek.

“Gabriel, you can’t be okay with this,” says a thin Knight, clutching his cross.

There’s no way I could take all of them. Maybe I could hack the lights to create confusion, then grab Sunny and run.

Americus steps up, his face a mask of anger. “Silence, now!”

Gabriel frowns at Americus but nods. “Knights, be calm. I know this is strange, but this AI has shown kindness, and he saved my life.”

“But Deacon, it’s against God’s laws,” says a curly-haired Knight.

“I can always count on you, Gregory. You’re a good man,” says Gabriel. “But I believe that God sent this AI so I can continue the fight against the beast.”

Gregory’s eyes widen, but he nods. “Praise the Lord.”

“Hallelujah,” say several of the Knights.

Others seem less enthusiastic.

I move my hand from my gun and release a long, shaky breath.

“Loyalists,” says Americus. “I know that AI is extremely dangerous, but in this one case, I believe the risks to be contained. He’s under Fae’s control, and he’s not networked. He also saved my life.”

Several of the Loyalists smile and nod to Sunny and me.

“He’s now a part of this team,” says Americus. “He’ll be treated with all the same rights and privileges.”

“Welcome to the team, Boss,” says Alexander.

“Glad to have you aboard,” says Yumi.

Weird Tom nods to Sunny.

Astrid smiles at me. “Thank Navin your little friend was around. We need Americus if we’ll have any chance of figuring this mess out.”

  CHAPTER 13

GREATER APPEAL

Two days later, Nav, Sunny, and I sit on my bed, in the waning sunlight. Nav attempted to apologize to her father for standing up to him, but he waved her off, still clearly angry. Instead, he gave us a copy of the Xyphotech drive. He also sent one to his NIA contact, Gerald. Both days, Nav and I attempted to decrypt the drive with no success. The rest of the time, I hung out with Nav and Sunny or talked to Alexander while we trained. Despite his cockiness, he’s fun to talk to and knows tons about ancient and modern warfare.

“So a decentralized government would eliminate corruption since there would be no politicians involved,” I say to Nav. “There would be a constitution, which would be programmed into the blockchain. It would have to be followed, unlike how politicians don’t always follow the constitution now.”

“What if people want to change a law or part of the constitution?” asks Nav.

“It could be voted on. Laws would have a much lower threshold to pass than constitutional changes. They would need around seventy-five percent of votes.”

“What if wealthy people manipulated votes through advertisements or other means?” asks Nav.

“We’d have strict limits on advertisements and political spending and no way to buy people’s votes.” Another idea comes to me, and I nod excitedly, my curls bouncing. “Maybe laws can even be argued in court by constitutional lawyers. Then people would really understand what they’re voting for, and it would be hard to trick them.”

Nav lights up. “That’s a great idea. How would the military work?”

“I would put in the constitution that you can only defend, but if not, I suppose the top generals would recommend war, and then the people could enter their votes on the blockchain. Maybe the generals could even be elected. Why not?”

Sunny nods, and a beam of sunlight reflects off his chrome head into my eyes. I blink and turn away.

“Hmm,” says Nav. “I like it better than the current system, especially now that it’s gone to hell, but I still prefer voluntarism.”

“I have plenty of time to convince you otherwise,” I say with a smirk.

Nav grins at me and pulls out a bottle of wine. “In light of your brilliant ideas and our continued survival, I thought we should celebrate.

It will be nice to have fun for once.

“And thank you for saving us, Sunny,” says Nav.

“I would never leave either of you to die.”

“Good thinking with the power beaming upgrade,” I say.

“When I saw how important it was, I didn’t want you to run out of power again.”

I should have thought of it. The chaos must be getting to me. “This celebration should be for you too, Nav. You helped save Sunny.”

“Yes, thank you, Naveha,” says Sunny.

“I’ll do it again if need be.” She pours two mugs of the red liquid and hands me one. “No wine glasses, so mugs will have to do. I brought you one Sunny so you could toast with us.”

I look into the mug at the dark liquid and sniff its fruity aroma. “I’ve never had wine.”

“Live in the moment. Here’s to Sunny,” she says and raises her mug.

I shrug, and we all toast.

“Here’s to you Nav for helping Sunny and for helping me when I needed it most,” I say, meeting her kind, brown eyes.

Nav raises her glass. “And to you Fae. My brilliant friend who brought me back from the edge and gave me purpose again.”

I take another sip of the tart liquid, already feeling a tingly relaxation settle over me. “It’s tough to live under constant threat of danger. Doesn’t it bother you?”

“It does, of course, but this is too important,” says Nav. “If we don’t help, many people will suffer. We can prevent that.”

She’s