The Limit as G Goes to Infinity

Over centuries, wealth has concentrated upward until the divide between rich and poor reaches a breaking point. The ultra-wealthy have withdrawn into chartered, state-sized coastal enclaves engineered for maximum comfort and control by the few who now own most industrial assets. Automation and artificial intelligence have displaced most human labor, leaving society struggling to decide how the remaining wealth—and dignity—is distributed. With the ladder of social mobility cut off, most people survive on government-issued payments funded by AI production, while others scrape by servicing the informal needs and entertainments automation cannot replace. When a rebel movement discovers a way to undermine the system that has hollowed out pride and human enterprise, a crime ignites a confrontation between preservation and collapse. Detective Curtis Hale—recently demoted and now reporting to an AI Sheriff designed to enforce stability—finds himself policing a society that no longer needs his judgment, only his compliance. As his investigation brings him into conflict with both the architects of the system and those determined to tear it down, Curtis must decide whether loyalty means preserving order—or defending the human capacity to choose a future at all—before the system decides his remaining contribution isn’t worth the risk he poses.