Real Intelligence

The universe has gone mad - money, laws, personal pronouns and parking restrictions all cancelled.

If you were asked to solve a crime but could stop it before it happened, would you?

This is the dilemma facing Barry Saint-Albans, the second-greatest detective in all the universes.

Cash being a thing of the past, like smoking, electric cars and pointless laws, Barry has to work for a living in a universe where civilisation survives largely on inertia and denial. He decides that one way to enjoy the patronage of wealthy folks is to exchange a solved crime for hospitality.

He borrows a temperamental machine from a time-hopping gynoid where it was holding up the roof of her hut, intending to return it a split second after wards before she's flattened by falling flora. His mission is to get to the crime shortly before it happens, and film it as evidence.

But thereby hangs the nub: he risks his life if he tries to intervene, he risks his life if he falls foul of the criminal element, and he risks his life if he doesn't solve the crime.

To complicate matters, Barry and his soul-mate Gemma are the galaxy's first human/synthetic hybrids pioneering a bold new future for sentient life - one plagued by low batteries, unreliable charging ports, and chronic range anxiety.

Artificial intelligence is now Real Intelligence with all its associated problems.