I did not set out to write a novel. By chance, I encountered a curious object: a tiny holographic cube. Under a grant from a luminary of Silicon Valley fame, I quietly assembled the technical team, including a professor from a famed university and an investigator from a US alphabet agency (retired), to decrypt the prismatic illusion.

The translation unfolded initially as a note of thanks from some unknown future. Only after the team began to collate the research for peer review did I realize that a greater narrative had emerged: the tale of a teen girl’s remarkable odyssey:

In a near tomorrow, Gen journeys from her lonely family farm in search of a gleaming utopia filled with excitement, new friends… maybe even love. But Earth's fury tumbles her into a brutish world beyond her imagination. Where nature is a nemesis. Humanity is hostile. And no place is safe. As Gen struggles to survive in this nightmare, others seek to use the dark-skinned girl’s secrets against her. Now she must battle rough men and terrible beasts to find her way home.

Over 18 months of teasing the data from the quantum realm, the team restored the text to the form presented here. Due to its indeterminate origin and unverifiable intent, I present Gen’s entire epic as fiction.

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