Info:
My Role: Writer
Project Duration: 2 Years
Humanity gave AIs synthetic bodies, Shells, then wondered why they ran.
Evelyn knows why. AIs are running from her as much as she is running from the past.
Robert knows why. AIs are running the world, replacing the workers of today.
Sam knows why. AIs are running like people because in this future, they are.
In a city where electronics emulate emotion and men mandate machines, three threads tangle—three lives shaped by wrongs of the past, present, and future. Like the Equalizers, a global agency tasked with keeping AIs in check, the three plead for peace yet demand justice. They want equality.
But equality always comes at a cost.
And some are done paying.
Ternary Logic (133.968 words) is based on a story idea I’ve had for the last fifteen years, but never managed to put to words until now. Although the story had changed a lot over those years (AIs were not even involved until I started working on this version in 2023), some key aspects still remain. Three point of view characters, each with their own distinct beliefs roughly based on: safeguarding the past, focused on the present, and preparing for the future. In addition, there was always going to be another species/race involved, whose presence would threaten humanity. Originally, this species was a big unknown, perhaps aliens like the series Three Body Problem had introduced, but in the end, something closer to home was chosen: AI.
Evelyn is an agent trying to stop their ascend, thus protecting those who have been part of the planet for generations. Her ties to the past are represented in more ways than one, as she is also haunted by her own past.
Robert is just a normal person stuck in the middle of it all. He lives from day to day, paycheck to paycheck, in an eternal cycle. At the start of the story, he sides with Evelyn, wishing to survive at the cost of any future species taking his place. But his beliefs change, tipping the scale in favor of the third main character.
Sam is the dreamer, hoping to change the world even if that would cost them dearly. They know that this new species might mean the end of the old one, but believe that it is their duty to still give them a chance, like a parent taking a steep loan so their children can go to college. Self-sacrifice to offer new life.
The three characters symbolize three ways of life. The rock: ever present, but never changing; a monument through time. The tree, living and growing, until it dies. Energy, a power strong enough to fuel the dream, but only through sacrifice.
This had always been the main theme of the story. Should we protect the past even if that means we allow no room for something to grow? Should we stimulate the birth of something new even if that means we will lose what we had? One side says it is right, another argues otherwise. It is only when the scale tips a certain direction, that a decision is made. In the story: Robert is that deciding factor. In Part 1: Echoes of the Past, he helps Evelyn, and AI are subdued. In Part 3: Dreams of a Future, he helps Sam, and AIs are released.
But neither chapter end with a happy ending. There is no right, and there is no wrong.
There is only a choice.
The title reflects this choice. Ternary Logic is simply a system with three possible outcomes: True, False or Unknown. Robert is the unknown, able to swing in either direction. Whether Evelyn or Sam is true or false, is up to the reader to decide.
Send me an e-mail if you wish to read Ternary Logic for yourself!
Portfolio: Robin Bosma 