NEAR and the Accidental God

By Richard L. Sanders

A depressed but ingenious roboticist is forced to grapple with the larger questions of life after his science exceeds his designs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard L. Sanders
• Release date: Jan 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005331290

Richard L. Sanders

Richard is 34 years old (and holding) and is a Salt Lake City native where he currently lives with his beautiful fiancé Emily and their dogs: June, Bentley, and Mia. (The last of which is technically a cat.) Richard is an attorney admitted to all Utah state and federal courts, but he primarily works as an investigator for the Utah government. He began publishing in 2011 while a first-year law student, and was very prolific with nine publications including eight novels, within five years. In 2016 he took a hiatus from writing, in response to emergent and challenging life circumstances that lasted until 2019. Richard spent these years focused on family, personal growth, and pro bono legal causes. He is excited by his return to the publishing world with several titles planned for release in 2021, including The Gods Who Bleed and Legacy of the Phoenix. In his spare time, he's an avid swimmer, skier, and chess player. (Up for a game? 1. e4 ...)His official website is www.blackoceanbooks.com

Book preview

Chapter 1 – Where it all began. And ended.

Does every question—in fact—have an answer? Life and reality, for instance, seem to be pointless.

Dr. Stiles sat atop the White Cliffs of Dover, eyes tracing the thick blue tides back to where Calais was barely visible. A chilly ocean breeze enriched the salty air, and below him, a circle of birds hovered just over the water. He watched them for a time, amused, wondering how such simple creatures could exhibit intelligence—the ability to make decisions without being told how—when millions of years of science and a twenty-billion-euro machine still failed to do so. What was the difference? It was all basic carbon, metals, and hydrogen at the end of the day. There was no difference, and very soon, NEAR would prove that.

He breathed deeply, massaging his temples, trying to ignore what was truly bothering him. And, as always, the glorious scenery and fresh air could do only a little to calm his mind. His thoughts were mostly a jumble, like the tide racing against the rocks, splashing in pure chaos. Whenever one broke, another followed, always—a never-ending battle to chip away the cliffs and the chalky beach. But for what? So much effort that, in the end, was meaningless.

The tide was like life, or rather—each wave was like a life. Coming and passing, always another just behind, on steady and unavoidable courses toward an inevitable end, death—the most constant thing in the universe. The exact paths may vary, the angles may be different, but the outcome is always the same, making everything along the way irrelevant.

So, by what right do I even exist? he said aloud to no one, a habit he had acquired from several years of loneliness. The whistling wind and the splashing sea gave no reply; they could not hope to answer a question that had baffled humanity since the dawn of time. "I am dust. I am matter in space, experiencing time just like any other matter. I am a computer, following my own organic programming, nothing more, and that is why NEAR