What most people don’t realize is that Earth built their first artificial intelligences during the late 20th century. They were idiots compared to modern AIs, but in controlled situations they could interact with people. Some could beat grand masters in chess, and some won on Jeopardy. In general though, they were no where near as capable as modern AIs. It takes a lot of code to design a program that can operate in the wild. Some very few excelled at it though.
Some people say that writers are disconnected from the real world. For certain definitions of reality, that is true. I spend most of my life with at least one foot in other worlds. I grew up reading about Narnia and Middle Earth, watched Bonanza, Star Trek, and Star Wars. Those worlds and characters are real, if only in the minds of their writers and fans. To me, Jack of Harts is as real as any of those worlds, and I cannot help but write the stories I find there.
My stories can be found here:
The Ottoman Empire had seen centuries of decline since the height of Constantinople’s prime as a seat of the Roman Empire. Numerous attempted revolutions and cessations mixed in with wars against Russia, Italy, and the Balkans to bankrupt the powerful nation before The War. Alliance with Germany was their last hope. If they won The War, they could retake the lands stolen from them by opportunists. If they lost, they would be forgotten to history. They lost.
When I was a kid, I had a narrower definition of people. Ships were machines, yah know. Then I grew up and learned what being people really meant. Some are alive, but aren’t really what I’d like to call people. And some that aren’t alive like the rest of us are more people than anyone ever expected. Cybers are like that. They’re people, and I’ve found they’re just alive as anyone else. Just different. Sometimes we need that.
When The War ended, we came home to the Peace we purchased with our lives. In many places, people happy to have their sons and daughters back welcomed us with open arms. In other areas, jeers, flying eggs, fruit, and worse met us. In twenty years of unrelenting War, many people forgot what we fought for. We were the taxes they didn’t want to pay, the monsters who killed for a living. We were dangerous. It was a difficult homecoming.