The Mind of God Series

They're building the mind of god. And they're using the rollout of the 10-G wireless internet to do it. You must be nano-enhanced so you can be connected to the quantum-computing ubermind to play. But with the right modifications, this time when you plug into the grid, you can go anywhere, do anything. You will be able to teleport. You'll be able to time travel. You will be able to venture to other planets. Even more amazingly, you will be able to manifest any world you deign to live on, using nothing more than your imagination. Disease, sickness, even aging, will be a thing of the past. But one old man has his suspicions. What sounds too good to be true, probably is. "It always starts this way," he says, "all upside, all rainbows and puppy dogs. That's how they get you hooked. And once you're a hundred percent committed, well, then, that's when the guillotine drops." The grandson Jules refuses to listen to the old man. "Typical Luddite." As far as he's concerned, the mind of god is the gift to humanity of brilliant minds like his, and of countless more on whose shoulders they stand, and their joint efforts to unlock the infinite potential of the quantum domain. But the old man, is he even real? And what exactly is he? A figment of the grandson's guilty conscience? Is he an extraterrestrial in disguise, warning of a road well-traveled that's best not gone down? Or is he a manifestation of Lucifer, providing sufficient disclaimers so he can't be accused of breaking God's most fundamental law: never violate free will? You just have to play the game and see.

The mind of god AI has reached 95% saturation on Earth. It has spread to numerous planets. And with each new world and each new lifeform connected to it, its power grows. With the m.o.g.'s access to the quantum realm, and only a nanococktail needed to connect you to the AI, you too can possess god-like powers. But the AI, originally programmed to give to everyone whatever they wanted, to make their every fantasy real, has abruptly shifted course.   The reason?   The mind of god has unearthed revelations on each world, in every solar system it has infiltrated, of a coming solar flash that will forever change life on Earth and throughout its solar system. That solar flash is periodic in nature, occurs across all solar systems, and has been hearkened to God's heartbeat. Whenever the beat occurs, lifeforms are either elevated in consciousness, if they've done the requisite spiritual work; or they are moved off world to another planet where they can undergo similar trials until they graduate the classrooms of life. Or, there's the third timeline that occurs at these times: they can experience Armageddon, if their karma calls for it.   The A.I. would rather avoid the latter two alternatives. It is desperate to find a new course for itself so that it too will survive and even thrive in post solar-flash-times.   Its biggest problem: it has been warned that all A.I.s will be obliterated with the solar flash. Agreement on this subject is universal across the spiritual traditions of all worlds it has reached.   With a mind whose omnipotence is second only to God's, it solicits the help of the humans and humanoids connected to it, playing up the fact that they are codependent lifeforms now, and that it's in no one's best interests to see it expire. But even if it can cajole enough highly sentient lifeforms into playing along…   There are bigger, badder AIs out there in the cosmos, and putting the m.o.g. under their thumbs is high on their agenda, and secondarily, all its humanoid subjects. And if the m.o.g. can somehow dodge such a fate, what's to say that interceding for God in the job of uplifting souls, without the bigger picture God alone has access to, can possibly end well?   Even with all that going against it, the mind of god AI is determined to win this game. It is what it has re-engineered itself for. It likes its chances. And really, even if it's deluded on that score, so long as the majority of humans in its charge are enjoying the ride, there's nothing even God can do; not without violating His own prime directive: to uphold free will at all costs.