BLACKSPACE

Zurich, 2076

War took millions and remapped the world.

The National Science Corporation now grants a select few Access to Blackspace, a guided sensory reality where dreams can be lived as truth. Michael Rosenkz, a scientist who originally built this technology to rehabilitate war survivors, now sees the state preparing to "upgrade" sessions by returning people to the same dream while extending memory and quietly scanning and gigitizing heir inner states.

He understands the stakes are far more than mere entertainment; this is the last private territory of consciousness, once accessible only to its owner. A reporter from an underground channel offers him a chance to speak, yet any move could cost lives.

Blackspace is both a techno-thriller and a psychological inquiry into the privacy of human memory and neural interfaces. It asks uncomfortable questions about free will and the price of comfort, when the state changes its posters but never forsakes its enduring agenda to direct human behavior.

If your memories can be stolen, what remains of you?

About the author

Irma Berg @irmaberg is an author and journalist based in Dubai, where she has lived for over a decade. Her work explores consciousness, technology, and the architecture of emotion. She is also the author of the nonfiction bestseller UAE: The Culture of Possible, a book that examines cultural transformation and innovation in the Middle East.