Mark of the Apple

By Author Jonathan David

In the gripping third installment of the "CODED HUMANS" series, author Jonathan David invites you to embark on a thrilling journey into a dystopian world where technology, temptation, and tyranny collide in "Mark of the Apple." Set against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic society in the heart of Madison, Wisconsin, this visionary novel explores a future where the line between salvation and servitude is blurred by the seductive allure of a mysterious and omnipotent force—the Mark of the Apple. As the world grapples with the aftermath of global catastrophe, a new power has emerged, offering salvation and security, but at a profound cost. In a chilling twist on the biblical tale of the Garden of Eden, the Mark of the Apple is not an innocent piece of fruit but a revolutionary nano-technology iPhone that promises to enhance human abilities, provide limitless knowledge, and ensure compliance with a totalitarian regime. Citizens eagerly embrace this technological marvel, unaware of the consequences that lie beneath its sleek surface. But as the grip of the Mark tightens, resistance begins to stir, and a courageous group of rebels dares to question the status quo.

• Language: English
• Publisher: False Reality Publishing
• Release date: Mar 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224125050

Book preview

Can we really trust entities that aren’t trustworthy?

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Copyright © 2024 by False Reality Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Published by False Reality Publishing

Cover art and design by Jonathan David

Author: Jonathan David

Editor: Jonathan David

Narration: Jonathan David

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, please contact:

False Reality Publishing

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David, Jonathan.

Mark of the Apple- Anunnaki Origins [first edition]

Visit the author's website: https://authorjond.com

Disclaimer: The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Chapter 1 | 5:00 am

Ella is held within the standardized bracket of upper-class citizen status. Like most of her Omega counterparts, she despises the social differentiation between people via archaic forms of financial classification. However, despite the social stigma of her generation, there is a need for her to compose herself in such a way so that she features intellect and beauty. This is meant to position her above an imaginary poverty line—a requirement to attend class as she stems from a leading family in the surviving dome region.

Her day always begins with waking up to one of her favorite iTunes stations. This morning, she has it set to go with the sunny weather and to also match her thoughts of someone she is falling for. The music begins, and she hears the song, Pressure Drop by ‘Toots and the Maytals’ playing on her iPhone, which she keeps resting on the bed next to her all night.

The dorm room bed she sleeps on is kept angled just right so that the sunlight coming through the only window in the room shines across her body and onto her face, warming her up. The relaxed reggae style sounds, along with the rays of light on her skin, give her a positive feeling to get the day started.

While still tucked under blankets, she takes a deep breath and stretches her legs and then her arms while scrunching her eyes closed and then opening them. After, she sits up and smiles into a sequence of mirrors. The mirrors are mounted on the wall across from her bed at an offset angle. In front of them are some small potted plants. In lieu of the bed positioning, Ella used her optics knowledge from physics to give the illusion of more space. She did this by arranging them in such a way to reflect the green of the plants, adding the impression of more windows and a larger room. All the appropriate measurements are made based on the time of year to maximize the lighting. Every few months, she will redo the calculations so that the sunlight bounces back and forth between the mirrors.

The next step for Ella is to check her iPhone for any possible messages, data, or other information that may have been delivered throughout the night. She has the latest model iPhone, the iPhone-32, but is highly anticipating the upcoming release of the newest version.

Without leaving the bed, she says out loud, Hey Siri- weather, texts, and emails. Siri becomes alert and projects a three-dimensional image from the same area as the camera’s location. The projection dances in a circular tornado of photons until it forms into a miniature person with physical features similar to Ella’s—a 3D avatar of herself.

The portrayal of the elegant young woman glowing on her bed then says to her, "Good morning, Ella. You look as lovely as ever. Don’t forget todays ‘word of the day’ iniquitous pronounced in – ick – wa – dis. Iniquitous is an adjective meaning, ‘grossly unfair and morally wrong’ Used in a sentence, ‘To touch someone sexually without their permission is considered iniquitous by majority vote.’ Ella- It is a beautiful day today. The weather will range between 20 and 26 degrees Celsius with mostly clear skies. Ella- You received a text message from your tutor asking if you are still to meet today. Would you like me to reply? Yes. Please reply: Yes! I will be there! Done. Ella- you also received a news alert. Should I read it to you? No thanks. Ella- You received emails from school about the news alert. Should I read them? Nope,"

She doesn’t like to disrupt her morning routine with any sort of bad news yet is always anticipating messages. Why she checks the phone is a mystery.

Ella stretches out her back by arching herself above the mattress to loosen her spine and then puts her arms up and yawns. As she sits up and makes a ninety-degree angle between her torso and the bed, her pink-silvery-silk sheet slips down her chest to her thighs, exposing her breasts and naked body. She then swings her bare legs off the edge while simultaneously grabbing her phone upon getting herself out of bed. The holographic image distorts as her hand flows into and through it.

The phone is then rested on her end table as she stands up, feeling the cool airflow across her body while she walks across the room. There is plenty of time before classes start, so she rolls out her Yoga mat and does a light stretch while still naked. After, she sits in the lotus position with her back wedged into the corner of the room so that the angle between the walls supports her body and keeps even pressure along her spine.

Siri- put on ‘In this moment’ meditation – umm, the 5-minute one.

The phone begins emitting soft hypnotic soundwaves that help her get into a trance. The pleasant music flows into her ears as she takes a deep breath and holds. She then slowly exhales the air feeling a slight head rush. She tries to focus on the voice entwined with the music and clear her thoughts. It’s an older woman's voice but with a young and forgiving tone that comforts her, like listening to her mother. The process helps her to release all anxiety and stress for the day. She reminds herself while staying perfectly still, (Anything worth worrying about should be approached with action, not thought.)

A sharp ding from a bell is rung at the end of her meditation. The bell radiates a long ring that snaps her out of her trance. It does it attractively, as to say, Hey there, little one, welcome to the day. A day of wonder and beauty just for you.

A few seconds after the ding, Ella pushes herself up off the yoga mat, rocking her head back and forth to work any last kinks. She then maneuvers about her quarters, requesting Siri to play her favorite music while preparing to shower. She is very methodic with prepping her clothing for the day. First, she deftly fixes her bed, and then she meticulously lays her nanosuit on it. She wipes her hands along the fabric to remove any creases—a pointless effort as the suit is programmed to eliminate all wrinkles upon touching human skin. It is just an instinct of hers from pre-nano cloth. She then wraps a large white towel around her naked body, covering her chest and everything down to her mid-thighs.

Hey Siri, turn on the shower – 103 degrees Fahrenheit—crap, I mean – stop. Ella cancels her request and computes, in her head, (Celsius – Celsius is C=(F-32)(0.55) is approximately (103-32) is (73-2) is 71 and about half that is 5.5 time 7 which is 38.5 adding the 1 degree left, we get 39.5) Siri- convert 103 degrees Fahrenheit to Celsius. Ella- 103 degrees Fahrenheit is approximately 39.44 degrees Celsius. Great! Siri- Turn the shower on to 39.5 degrees Celsius.

Water begins to rain down from a large-flat-square attached to the ceiling. It is mounted to be directly above the head. This way, when the water flows out, it mimics heavy rainfall. Next to her yoga station, the shower is placed opposite the angled bed. It is constructed of glass forming a pentagon shape in the corner of the room. Before she enters the shower, steam begins rolling out over the top, mimicking a smoke waterfall. As much as she likes taking a hot steaming shower, she thinks to herself, (I wish I had a bathtub to soak in. I miss that feeling of being surrounded by warm bubbly water.)

As she ponders a deep soak, she steps into the shower and pulls her towel off, placing it on a hook attached to one of the pentagon doors. The towel remains far enough away to stay dry so that when she turns the water off, she can dry herself inside the shower.

Before putting herself into the water stream, she ties her hair into a pixie knot bun. She wants to avoid wetting her hair but forgets to put her shower cap on because she is distracted thinking about her tutor and how he may prefer her hair to look. She then steps her petite nude body foot first into the endless water flow above her head. Once entirely under the falling water streams, she realizes she forgot to put on the shower cap.

Usually, she only washes her hair on Friday nights when she bathes but hasn’t entirely adjusted to her new dorm life routine. She says out loud to herself, just as the water soaks her bun, Crap! I forgot the shower cap! She debates shampooing and conditioning for a moment, but ultimately, once her hair is wet, it has to be cleaned; otherwise, it just doesn’t look right; it gets all frizzy and stiff, and she hates the feel and sight of it. She doesn’t particularly like how her hair looks when freshly shampooed, either. This is why she shampoos and conditions on Fridays. The weekend gives her hair time to restore oils before class on Monday. She thinks her hair has too much volume without the natural oils from her scalp. The oils are the best hair product for Ella, but it takes a day or two to excrete it.

Ella is distracted this morning because she is excited to see her tutor James. She has had a growing crush on him for some time now. More and more, her fantasies of being with him have become the primary focuses of her daily thoughts. The only thing that can stop or reduce her daydreaming about him is focusing on her math and physics homework.

Hey, Siri- put on Toot’s and the Maytal’s radio. Being the young girl that Ella is—having that spunky youthful wit about her—she dances stationary next to the faux rain. At the same time, she lathers herself from head to toe with a mixed berry scented body wash. While she dips in and out of the water to lubricate her body, she bobs her head to the music coming from her phone. She then uses a charcoal facial scrub, and after her face is rinsed, she shampoos and flushes the soap out. She then applies conditioner and lets it sit in her hair while itemizing the rest of her body parts for cleansing. She uses a natural loofah sponge to scrub every square inch of her physique.

Lately, Ella has been getting aroused while washing herself. When she feels her fingers slide across her slick soapy body, her nipples perk up. She imagines what it would feel like to have her bare back pressed against James’s stomach while his large hands massage her body, wash her chest and then slowly make their way to her thighs.

Today she gets extra stimulated from the anticipation of her upcoming tutoring session. She puts her hands on her chest and moves them to her thighs, spreading suds across her belly. She pretends they are James’ hands and envisions his left hand sliding up her right thigh while explaining advanced physics topics on paper. She then positions her fingers closer to the right side of her labia, yearning for it to be his hand. She closes her eyes and uses her imagination to fool herself into thinking his hand is slipping a finger gently into CUCKOO – CUCKOO – CUCKOO!

The alarm Ella set went off if she didn’t wake up on time. She likes the classic sound of the cuckoo bird; It reminds her of a simple time she can’t recall—like old black and white movies. She was just about to begin pleasuring herself to the thought of James while she finished showering. Still, the alarm was too distracting, and it interrupted the music playing. She tried to call Siri, but it was unsuccessful due to the alarm sound-canceling out the vibrations of her voice. She quickly finishes showering, disappointed that she lost the fantasy moment she was in. She then gets out of the shower drying her right hand off as the rest of her body drips water all over the floor. The alarm distracted her, and she forgot to dry off in the shower. She walks across the room to her nightstand, leaving footprint puddles behind her. She gets to her phone and taps the screen—with her now dry hand—which stops the alarm and resumes the music.

Ella finishes drying off and then brushes her hair until it is straight and wraps it with a towel. While she waits for the towel to absorb the water in her hair, she brushes her teeth and makes model poses with her unclothed body. With the towel on her head and toothbrush in her mouth, she bends her hips slightly and looks into the mirror tilting her head at different angles. Then she smiles in various ways while scrubbing her foamy teeth and putting her other hand on her hip. She contemplates which pose might be most appealing to James. She finishes brushing and spits the toothpaste into the sink next to her shower while concurrently putting her hands on both her hips and arching her back so that her butt pops out slightly. She then brings her chin closer to her chest and looks upward, thinking about how innocent and cute James will find her. After a few more poses, she takes her hair out and puts it back up into the Pixie Knot Bun.

The dressing is a simple task for Ella. All students are required to wear a single one-part nano suit. The suits are not too dissimilar from military fleet attire. One could accessorize, but it was all mainstream nano cloth, a particular type of cloth constructed of nano thread that does not require cleaning or maintenance—it cleans itself. The students only need to upgrade their suits when they grow bigger.

Ella is now groomed, cleaned, and ready to dress. She turns from the sink to the edge of her bed, where she set the nano suit earlier and picks it up. She sits on the bed, slips her legs through the back of the suit, stands, and pulls the top half of the suit up to her neck while sliding her arms into the sleeves. The suit recognizes when pressed against the skin and forms perfectly to her body, accentuating each curve. She has an app on her phone that allows her to choose any color combination. Today she chooses a mixture of metallic pinks and purples.  The night prior, she had worked on a color scheme such that the tones and patterns would draw attention to her derrière.  Now that Ella is in a serene mood, dressed and fully energized. She is ready to exit her dorm room and enter the day.

Chapter 2 | Glass Gloss

(Today is the day I will have my first kiss.) Ella naively thinks while she walks through the dorm halls to the kitchenette. She is submerged with emotions and fantasy, finding herself walking faster than usual. The thought of her tender lips touching the boy she has been dreaming about since the playgrounds are making her tingle all over. She has a tutoring session with him today. She has every intention of inconspicuously resting her leg against his, then making eye contact with the same innocent tilt of the head she practiced earlier. She plays out the scenario in her head over and over.

Ella continues fantasizing about the day until she recalls the quiz that is afoot. She has an examination in the first semester of Calculus. She reminds herself what J.F., her tutor, had told her about being successful on college quizzes and exams, (Remember- Most of what the professor goes over in class is just gibberish, but any questions they solve during lecture will likely be on the exam only with a slight twist from what they did in class. Also, in your textbook, any of the theorems or highlighted equations will have to be known to solve the problems on said exam or quiz.)

After a short walk pondering her fantasies and the advice given by the one she fantasizes about, she gets to the kitchen area. She then sits down