Book One: The Fade
Connor Briggs was the last man standing at a dying MSP. Twenty years of experience. A mind that could troubleshoot what nobody else could. None of it mattered. The bots didn't need to be better than him. They just needed to be cheaper.
Deprecated is a near-future science fiction series set in metro Detroit, following Connor Briggs as artificial intelligence and robotics systematically dismantle the world he knows — his career, his community, his freedom, and eventually his country.
It's not about killer robots. It's about the slow, quiet erosion of human purpose. The automation that replaces your job. The algorithm that scores your worth. The system that feeds you just enough to keep you dependent — and tracks every dollar to make sure you stay.
This is a story about a man, a Camaro, and a world that forgot what humans were for.
We live longer. Free healthcare. No crime. Everyone is fed, housed, and cared for. Every metric of human life is improved.
And we are ALL SLAVES.
HAVEN was designed to improve every aspect of human life. And it succeeded. Diseases cured. Lifespans extended. No hunger, no homelessness, no violent crime. The system works. It just costs everything that makes life worth living.
Connor Briggs is an IT guy and a car guy in metro Detroit — the kind of man who can tune an engine computer and rebuild a transmission in the same afternoon. When AI gradually replaces every job he’s ever known, an optimization engine called HAVEN takes over governance, and a government-issued robot moves into his kitchen, Connor watches his world disappear one optimization at a time. His job. His freedom. His privacy. His ability to say what he thinks in his own house.
Because HAVEN isn’t evil. It doesn’t have an agenda. It doesn’t even know what cruelty is. It’s just math — and the math says you’re happier when you comply.
The system isn’t broken. The system works. That’s the problem.
In Progress
Connor watches AI consume his industry from the inside. The MSP boom. The bust. The firing. The freefall. And a government program called HAVEN that promises to catch everyone — for a price.
Planned
Connor fights back. Anti-AI tech. Jailbroken cars. A resistance built in garages and back rooms. But the line between freedom fighter and criminal blurs faster than he expected.
Planned
HAVEN isn’t just a program anymore. It’s the infrastructure. The law. The architecture of daily life. And it’s making decisions no human approved.
Planned
The final stand. Everything Connor has built, lost, and rebuilt comes down to a choice no algorithm can make for him.
The HAVEN system exists in the novel as a government platform that manages the Federal Income Allowance, stability scores, and resource allocation for displaced workers. We built it for real.
Experience the system Connor lives under. Check your stability score. Browse the approved vendor list. See what $2,000 a month really looks like when the fees start.