Right now I’m working on a science fiction novel. It’s set in 2036, in a Munich that almost still exists – and yet is completely different. Here’s the opening. Tell me whether you’d read on.
The radiator wails at a pitch exactly fourteen kilohertz high. That’s not the sound of warmth; it’s the sound of dying metal that knows no one will ever repair it.
I ignore it. My fingers are in rhythm, dancing over a mechanical keyboard whose letters wore off long ago. A waterfall of code runs down the screen. I didn’t write it. That would require creativity. Some language model on a server in Shenzhen spat out this sludge, and my job – my magnificent, master’s-degree job – is to be a caretaker.
My name is Viktor Roth. Nine years ago this job was still called „Senior Systems Architect“. Then the future decided it didn’t need me.
That’s how Viktor’s story begins – a man the world has overtaken, who one night discovers something he’d have been better off not seeing.
How do you like the opening? Would you read on? Let me know in the comments.
Leave a Reply