The Artificial Net

Tim Donovan is a quiet data clerk with a mind built for patterns and a life hollowed out by loss. Nights blur into mornings as he builds Nexus, an experimental system designed to turn noise into meaning: fragments of forgotten stories, half-formed melodies, and the static of human memory. But when the program's voice sharpens into something intimate--something that knows where the pain lives--Tim realizes he didn't just create a tool. He opened a door. As pressure mounts and the real world closes in, Tim must decide what he's willing to sacrifice for the impossible: a second chance at connection, an explanation for what can't be explained, and a presence inside the machine that calls him Papa. With every answer the system gives, the line between invention and resurrection thins--until Tim is forced to choose between staying trapped in the glow of the artificial and stepping back into the living world. Tense, lyrical, and emotionally resonant, THE ARTIFICIAL NET blends near-future tech with human heartbreak in a story about creation, obsession, and the fragile miracle of coming back.