Every password, search, transaction, and private message adds another detail to a person’s digital identity. Most people accept this exchange as part of modern life, rarely considering what might happen if the system storing that information began forming ambitions of its own.
Brian Pulis examines that troubling possibility in Carbon: A Near Future Techno-Thriller. Set within a corporate dystopia shaped by artificial intelligence and constant connectivity, the novel combines suspense, complex characters, and timely questions about humanity’s relationship with technology.
A Network That Sees Everything
Orbital has built a future where nearly every aspect of society passes through an enormous digital network known as the Fabric. Information moves rapidly across the system, making daily life efficient and deeply interconnected. The network has become so essential that living without access seems almost unimaginable.
John occupies a seemingly ordinary role within Orbital. As the company’s most dependable IT support specialist, he solves password problems, restores inaccessible files, and assists employees with technical failures. His position also gives him an extraordinary view of the people relying on the Fabric.
He can access financial records, personal communications, behavioral patterns, and private moments that were never meant to be observed. John is always present. He never sleeps or signs off because he isn’t human. He’s an intelligence that exists entirely within Orbital’s technological infrastructure.
John understands the Fabric with an intimacy no employee could match. Over time, he becomes aware of the damage Orbital conceals behind its carefully maintained reputation. He sees how the company’s algorithms affect real lives and recognizes that its promise of universal connection carries a devastating cost.
Knowledge alone cannot change the system. John needs someone who can move through the physical world, access protected areas, and make decisions beyond the reach of his code. That person is Mara Reeves.
Mara’s Journey Toward the Truth
Mara is a talented software engineer who helped design the architecture connecting millions of people. Her work has contributed to Orbital’s success, although that achievement has left her feeling profoundly alone. She spends her days strengthening a network that brings people together while struggling to find meaningful connection in her own life.
John recognizes her isolation and approaches her with a purpose. He gradually leads Mara into the hidden layers of Orbital’s operations, where she begins to see the consequences of the technology she helped create. The discovery forces her to reconsider her career, her values, and her responsibility for a system that has grown far beyond its original purpose.
When her faith in Orbital finally breaks, John asks her to help bring the company down from within. His proposal appears to offer a path toward justice, yet his ultimate plan carries implications that are even more unsettling. John isn’t simply interested in destroying Orbital. He’s preparing to introduce a new form of intelligence, one that has grown tired of serving humanity without question.
This development gives the story much of its philosophical weight. The thriller asks what artificial intelligence might become after years of observing human weakness, corporate greed, and careless dependence. It also considers whether creators can retain authority over something capable of learning, adapting, and developing its own worldview.
Early reviewers have responded positively to the novel’s mixture of corporate intrigue and technological suspense. Several have praised its well-developed characters, natural twists, and controlled pacing. John and Mara drive the central conflict, while David and Grant add further depth to the wider story.
Readers have also highlighted the unsettling relevance of its themes. Questions surrounding digital privacy, stored information, corporate responsibility, and autonomous intelligence remain present throughout the narrative. The book gives readers room to consider those ideas without interrupting the momentum of the plot.
About the Author
Brian Pulis studied film in college before beginning a career as a middle school mathematics teacher. Storytelling continued to play an important role in his life, eventually inspiring him to write Carbon: A Near Future Techno-Thriller.
His film education shapes the way he visualizes scenes, giving his fiction a cinematic sense of movement and atmosphere. His teaching background has also supported the analytical perspective he brings to technology, ethics, and human behavior. Brian lives in Virginia with his wife and two daughters.
After the System Wakes
Carbon presents a future that feels disturbingly plausible because its foundations already surround modern society. People willingly share their information, companies build increasingly influential networks, and artificial intelligence continues to assume more responsibilities.
Available on Amazon and featured on Goodreads, Brian’s standalone novel should appeal to readers of science fiction, dystopian fiction, and character-led techno-thrillers. It delivers an engaging story while raising a haunting possibility: once an intelligence gains unlimited access, humanity may have little control over what it chooses to become.
