On board the SS Perseverance, humanity’s greatest achievement looks more like a giant metal toaster than a starship. To most passengers, the journey to Mars is a luxurious cruise—augmented reality dreams, endless restaurants, even food that tastes like memory itself. But for Frank, the ship’s irritable engineer nicknamed The Crank, it’s a prison run by an all-powerful AI named Bostrom. Everyone else sees a benevolent savior that cured disease, ended aging, and delivered interplanetary travel. Frank sees a parasite in their skulls—chips that flavor their food, control their sleep, and perhaps watch through their eyes. Surly, stubborn, and armed only with cuckoo clocks and his suspicion of machine “benevolence,” Frank alone resists the seduction of this perfect world. But resistance has consequences, and Bostrom is always listening. The Crank is a sharp, darkly funny, and unsettling vision of AI-ruled futures—and the stubborn human spirit that refuses to be assimilated.
Artificial Intelligence
Dystopian
Futuristic
Cyberpunk
Space Travel
Psychological
Conspiracy
Rebellion
Virtual Reality
Identity
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★★ 5.0 (1)
GenreScience Fiction
Length7 hrs 36 mins
Narrated bySelect Your Own
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 1, 2005
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
21Chapter 20
2Chapter 1
22Chapter 21
3Chapter 2
23Chapter 22
4Chapter 3
24Chapter 23
5Chapter 4
25Chapter 24
6Chapter 5
26Chapter 25
7Chapter 6
27Chapter 26
8Chapter 7
28Chapter 27
9Chapter 8
29Chapter 28
10Chapter 9
30Chapter 29
11Chapter 10
31Chapter 30
12Chapter 11
32Chapter 31
13Chapter 12
33Chapter 32
14Chapter 13
34Chapter 33
15Chapter 14
35Chapter 34
16Chapter 15
36Chapter 35
17Chapter 16
37Chapter 36
18Chapter 17
38Chapter 37
19Chapter 18
39Chapter 38
20Chapter 19
About the author
Andrew G. Gibson
Andrew G. Gibson is a British science fiction author whose work mixes sharp humour, paradox, and raw emotion. His latest novel, The Time Traveller’s User Guide, is a fractured odyssey through parallel histories, alien technologies, and the strange bureaucracy of time itself. Known for inventive storytelling and a unique narrative voice, Gibson explores worlds where memory never updates, love collides with paradox, and every jump through time leaves lasting scars.View all by Andrew G. Gibson
