The President Is No More

By Olga Toprover

In a future where progress is accelerating beyond humanity’s ability to keep pace, the Humanists are trying to live in harmony with nature and avoid the advancing technology. One night, a fire destroys Kingstown – the Humanist settlement on the West Coast. As details of the tragedy emerge, outrage sweeps the Unites States, putting President Bill Freeman’s reelection prospects in doubt.
Negotiator Mia Arc faces a challenge of a lifetime when she’s asked to defend Humanist rights in the face of growing controversy. As she investigates the tragedy, she finds more questions than answers. Who is responsible for the tragedy? Did robots have something to do with it? And is anybody really who they say they are in this cyber-enhanced, nano-technological, unnatural world?
Mia doesn’t know if she can answer those questions. She is not influential. She is not powerful. She is just an ordinary woman...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Olga Toprover
• Release date: Apr 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301792160

Olga Toprover

Olga Toprover was born in Russia, lived in Canada for a few years, but currently resides in Los Angeles. Olga holds Master Degree in Computer Science from Moscow State University. She is also a published media author.Her scientific education and journalistic experience as well as living in different cities and countries formed her into the science fiction writer she is today. One of her favorite themes is robots and their role in our future. But never mind the technical aspect, Olga believes that true literature is about people instead of the advances of science and technology. Her stories, above all, are about us.Besides creating fantastic new worlds, Olga loves swing dancing, swimming in the ocean and spending time with her children.

Book preview

The President is No More

A science fiction novella

By Olga Toprover

Translation by Igor Studenkov

Abstract:

In a future where progress is accelerating beyond humanity’s ability to keep pace, the Humanists are trying to live in harmony with nature and avoid the advancing technology. One night, a fire destroys Kingstown – the Humanist settlement on the West Coast. As details of the tragedy emerge, outrage sweeps the Unites States, putting President Bill Freeman’s reelection prospects in doubt.

Negotiator Mia Arc faces a challenge of a lifetime when she’s asked to defend Humanist rights in the face of growing controversy. As she investigates the tragedy, she finds more questions than answers. Who is responsible for the tragedy? Did robots have something to do with it? And is anybody really who they say they are in this cyber-enhanced, nano-technological, unnatural world?

Mia doesn’t know if she can answer those questions. She is not influential. She is not powerful. She is just an ordinary woman…

Copyright © 2013 by Olga Toprover

Smashwords Edition

Table of Contents

1. End of Kingstown

2. Chairman’s Theory

3. Progress to the Rescue

4. Reception at the White House

5. The President’s Confession

About the Author

About the Translator

1. End of Kingstown

For a moment, I thought there was snow on my car. But how, I ask you, could there be snow in California, especially in August? My world swam as the absurdity of it started to sink in. Maybe it’s a dream? After all, dreams can be extremely convincing, so convincing you get completely fooled. You wake up and it takes you a while to shake it off.

Or maybe I’m floating in some VR environment where California snowfalls are as ordinary as London fog. You never know.

I walked up to the car, reached out and touched the white layer over the trunk. No, that’s definitely not snow. I stared at the gray powder left at my fingertips, puzzled, until it dawned on me – it was… ash.

And that’s when I noticed the burning scent. I couldn’t believe I got into that damned report that I didn’t notice what I was breathing the second I opened the door. Crazy!

It looked like the wind blew some ash blizzard in from somewhere. What’s going on? What’s burning? It’s been a while since we had a fire around these parts. The climate is dry, yes, but the universal anti-fire network can take care of accidental fires within seconds. And it’s been around for a pretty long time. Why didn’t the machines work now?

I went into my car and turned on the auto-drive.

Where are we going? the artificial voice called out.

The usual, I replied.

The ignition started and the rear transmission took over. As the car turned onto the road, I ordered.

News!

A video screen lit up the top left corner of the front window.

…An unbelievable tragedy, I heard. The fire appeared at approximately 2:00 a.m., catching the residents asleep.

The reporter’s pearl-white shirt and light-blue jeans stood in striking contrast against what unfolded behind his back. A black pillar of smoke rose off a little distance away. Even higher up in the clouds, it turned into an enormous, menacing mushroom – just like the one they usually draw in textbooks when they talk about explosions.

Meanwhile, the autopilot guided the car along the familiar daily route south, toward the city. Everything was