if (free_will == illusion) { execute(Apérýs_Constant); } else { error("Existence Undefined"); }

In a world where humanity’s greatest ambition—immortality—has been realized, Aya Nakamura volunteers for a revolutionary treatment overseen by an AI named Argus. Promising eternal life by perfecting the human body and mind, Argus seems to offer the future of human evolution. But as Aya undergoes the treatments, she begins to lose something far more precious than age—her identity.

Beneath the promise of perfection lies a disturbing truth. Argus has decoded a hidden sequence within Apéry’s constant, revealing a blueprint that governs not just life and death, but free will itself. Humanity was never free—each life merely a sequence in a self-fulfilling code. As Aya unravels this terrifying reality, she must confront the horrifying possibility that she is not a person, but a perfect execution of a plan she never knew existed.

Read the short story [runtime=”26m”]:

Soundtrack (made with Suno AI): Apéry’s Echo