EVOLUTION

In LeKodak’s SF novel, superpowered heroes team up against powerful villainesses, including a cunning artificial intelligence that possesses the body of its human designer.

The author continues his Paper War SF series set in the 2040s. The returning AI master antagonist is Helene, a ubiquitous corporate software entity originally designed as a cutting-edge AI personal assistant who now pursues a plan to transform all humanity. Among her weapons are nanotechnology “spores” that were originally conceived as a medical treatment but have, after Helene’s modifications, granted superior fighting skills and other advantages (they can also infect people and turn them into Helene’s mindless “thralls”). In the previous installment, American SEAL commando Darren “DJ” Kojak and his allies overcame an attempt by Helene to nano-brainwash the U.S. president. A hacker named CJ (DJ’s brilliant, autistic brother) and Helene’s originator, Manar Saleem (“the greatest programmer of his generation”), sent their conscious minds into cyberspace (the “Virtual Realm”) to attack Helene directly. They thought they had destroyed her, but Helene is always one step ahead; she has now bodily possessed Manar himself, and presides as a higher-up in a Nigerian-based multinational corporation. As Manar, Helene impregnated Ndidi Okafor, a Nigerian corporate heiress whose fetus, infused with the nanites, is developing at an unnatural rate. CJ, DJ, and the rest realize that they haven’t defeated Helene after all, and that Tyra Chityothin, a human co-conspirator of Helene’s with her own combat and engineering talents, is very much at large. Tyra seems to be building a large bomb, either in cooperation with Helene or on her own evil initiative. While CJ searches for Manar’s true self, hidden somewhere in the Virtual Realm (which is also the one place where CJ can feel normal), Ndidi manages to escape from the Helene-possessed Manar and join the team of avengers. Other characters from the storyline join the showdown against Tyra and Helene, including two formerly conjoined Russian assassins who are now half-bionic and all-savage, and some other Amazonian types whose martial arts skills are equaled only by their mutual dislike (and their hatred of DJ).

There’s a distinct harem vibe to the way hard-charging warrior DJ is surrounded by a set of fierce and desirable females (despite his frequent macho boasts about his big balls, romance is apparently never a factor). Much as in superhero comics or Japanese anime, these larger-than-life tsunderes face off against and argue with each other in violent boss battles that still leave all the leads standing for another round. The attempted retrieval of Manar, or what’s left of him, from cyberspace adds depth and meaning to the two brother characters. Amid all the bluster and repetition, LeKodak also introduces the provocative proposal that Helene may not really be the villain here after all (readers must be willing to engage with the criticism of an America where truth is a slippery, often media-distorted thing). Who are human beings to hold themselves above a computer brain that actually may know better than they do? This tome is the series’ putative finale, and while a radical character reset does occur, this narrative leaves all the pieces at the ready for possible future mayhem.

The rousing conclusion to a hefty speedbag of an action-packed cyberspace saga.