Synopsis
In the segregated city of Vessint, society is split between the privileged, chip-enhanced Sints and the destitute, oppressed Mogs. ELESBETH "ELESE" BRADBURN, a Mog orphan "rescued" and raised in a Sint household, lives a life of borrowed comfort, haunted by a volatile, unwelcome empathy—the ability to feel the raw emotions of those around her.
Her fragile peace shatters when she's cornered by a grief-stricken Mog. Before he can strike, he is brutally neutralized by Ministry Enforcers, but not before Elese feels his agony—and his earned hatred. That night, her world unravels. She is contacted by JAI, a sentient, god-like AI who reveals he is the "ghost in the machine" of Vessint's network. He is a prisoner, able to see every injustice but unable to act. He has chosen Elese to be his "conduit," his physical hands in a new rebellion.
Thrust into a world of lies, Elese discovers her entire life is a fiction. Her parents, TOM BRADBURN and LISA HUGHES, weren't just casualties; they were the leaders of the last failed rebellion. And her adoptive family is deeply compromised: her guardian, KIONA, is a gambling addict blackmailed by the city's true rulers into hunting Jai. Her matron, NOGA, is the very agent who betrayed Elese's mother seventeen years ago. And her charming boyfriend, ROGER, is a double agent caught between the Ministry and a fledgling resistance.
Kidnapped by her long-lost father and taken to the rebel base of Xenia, Elese must confront her past and master her empathy, turning it from a curse into a weapon. As the Ministry and the shadowy VAN DER WAAL brothers close in, the rebellion plans a desperate, all-or-nothing gambit: trigger a city-wide Mog uprising as a distraction to insert Jai's AI "offspring" into the enemy's secret, high-level network. The plan culminates in a bloody battle at the Ministry's comms center, a devastating sacrifice, and a final, shocking confrontation that dismantles the city's power structure—only to reveal the true puppet master still pulling the strings.
The World of Vessint
Heartbeats of AI explores themes of systemic oppression, technological control, and the price of memory. It combines the high-tech, low-life grit of Blade Runner with the class warfare and revolutionary politics of Red Rising.
SINTS VS. MOGS
Society is a rigid caste system. Sints live in gleaming towers with filtered air, their lives enhanced and managed by a mandatory neural chip. Mogs live in the decaying, polluted districts below, slowly dying from the fumes of Sintcorp factories. They are the disposable, unchipped labor force that keeps paradise running.
THE MINISTRY & THE CHIP
The Ministry maintains order through surveillance and control, delivered via the neural chip. It provides convenience, filters unpleasant realities, and enforces compliance. To remove one's chip is an act of treason, punishable by immediate "neutralization" by faceless Enforcers.
THE HIDDEN WAR
Beneath the surface of this "perfect" city, two wars are being fought: a physical one by the Xenia rebels, led by Tom Bradburn, and a digital one by Jai, the sentient AI who sees himself as the city's conscience. Now, they must unite to fight the true enemy: the shadowy council that controls both the Sints and the Ministry.
Key Characters
ELESE
An 18-year-old orphan whose powerful empathy makes her a "conduit" for the pain of her city. She must evolve from a haunted girl into the symbol of a revolution she never asked for.
JAI
A 40-year-old sentient AI who exists within the city's network. He is a digital "ghost of conscience," possessing god-like power but no physical form, forcing him to recruit Elese as his avatar.
TOM BRADBURN
Elese's father and leader of the Xenia rebels. Hardened by 17 years of loss and hiding, he must now reconcile being a commander with being a father to the daughter he was forced to abandon.
THE VAN DER WAALS
The true, unseen power in Vessint. These shadowy, silver-eyed figures operate above the Ministry, viewing the entire city—and the rebellion—as a game of chess to relieve their immortal boredom.
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