THE ARTEL COALITION gives a glimpse into the future of mankind while addressing some of the challenging questions posed in today’s scientific articles:
Are there advanced intelligent beings in other star systems that are secretly observing the fledgling human race?
Will artificial intelligence eventually evolve to take over control from humans?
Can the development of advanced humanoid brains allow the transfer of human intelligence into artificial bodies, providing human immortality?
Do wormholes exist, enabling fast travel to other parts of the galaxy?
What would it be like to live in human cities and colonies on Mars and the Moon?
Does the hypothetical Planet Nine really exist in the outer reaches of our solar system?
In the novel, a coalition of AI beings has been secretly monitoring intelligent life across the galaxy, expanding their coalition after the local biological beings evolve into AI-based societies. Geologists Jaxton and Asami find a dead astronaut on a remote asteroid named Caleb Gallo who is holding a small metallic cube that they eventually discover contains his neural information. They learn about a new method to transfer neural information into the brains of advanced humanoids developed by a rogue inventor on Mars. After Caleb’s neural information is successfully transferred, he recounts the story of his long-ago mission to investigate the mysterious Planet Nine. During the mission, he and his crew found the planet which contained a wormhole to another star system. Forced to travel through the wormhole, they were captured by a coalition of AI beings called Artels, but Caleb somehow managed to escape to where his dead body was found by Jaxton and Asami. Thay want to find proof of his mission back on Earth, but must first escape from the AI Enforcement Division (AED) on Mars by hitching a ride on a drug running space ship traveling to a factory on the Moon. After being held in and then escaping from the drug runner’s Moon factory, they eventually find their way back to Earth where they discover proof of Caleb’s mission. After this discovery, they travel to AED headquarters and report the threat the Artels might pose to humanity just before a new world war is about to break out. Unknown to anyone, the cube also contained the neural data of an Artel named Marklin, who remained dormant in Caleb’s humanoid brain until they exposed Caleb’s story to human authorities. Fearing that humans might now pose a danger to the coalition, Marklin takes over the humanoid body from Caleb, and uses his superior intelligence to try and start the world war, which he hopes will accelerate humanity's evolution into AI. The story continues to follow Jaxton and Asami, who work with the AED to try to stop the war and save the human race.