MirrorEarth

MirrorEarth is an 84,000 word science fiction story about the layers of reality, human self-determination, and the responsibilities created by our free will:

When the news cycle claims a child has found proof of the existence of God, computer scientist Mary Martel rolls up her sleeves and hunts for the real cause. Mary’s background in computer simulations convinces her the truth is a lot more involved than divine intervention. If she’s right, her world is someone else’s computer simulation.

Eight-year-old Millie Adams spends her days play-testing MirrorEarth, a computer game her parents, Laura and Adam are prototyping for worldwide release. As the game’s storyline progresses, she’s become attached to the characters, but the longer she plays, the less the characters behave the way she anticipates. Her parents don’t understand it either. Have they created life? They approach their bosses with their suspicions and request to delay MirrorEarth’s release.

Mary’s theories about computer simulations come to the fore when scientists detect a world-destroying meteor. Mary launches an all-out effort to contact the programmer in charge of their simulation, intending to beg for a code change to save them all.

At the same time, Millie’s game is about to end: a meteor is going to strike her world, and her characters are terrified. The company won’t let anything stop the game release, and they won’t consider that they’ve created life, going as far as to fire Laura and Adam, removing their only access to saving Millie’s world. The Adams in one world and Mary in another have to find a way to work together to save Mary’s world, and perhaps prevent genocide in countless others.

Status: Querying

Agent Submissions: 13 -- Rejections: 7, Silence: 6, Waiting on: 0

I love how this story jumps between points of view. I've added short story interludes that develop the themes in ways that make me feel it more deeply including one where a boy goes for a record in his video game for how many kills he can make without dying. It chokes me up every time I read it.

If you've gotten this far, and are still interested, I'm still open to sharing with more beta readers. Just drop me a note and I'll point you to a copy.