During late XX century people dreamed of space travel, immortality and strong AI. And now the best we have is Facebook. Or do we?
In Influx, another novel by Daniel Suarez (of Daemon duology fame), those dreams are true - for the select few. The secretive Bureau of Technology Control intercepts and appropriates all innovations deemed too disruptive to human society. Jon Grady, inventor of gravity mirror, has been on receiving end of this. After refusing to join the BTC, he is put into a nightmarish high-tech prison, while FBI investigators slowly try to untangle the false leads left by the cover-up of his abduction.
Relevant tropes:
- Apocalypse How: Class 1 attempted by BTC as a way to maintain their technological advantage.
- Artificial Gravity: While it's not a full-blown creation of gravity, but rather manipulating and redirecting Earth's gravity field, Grady's gravity mirror is what sets the events of the plot in motion.
- Boxed Crook: Richard Cotton, the leader of The Winnowers, is actually working for BTC. He had to play the role as a cover-up for BTC's abductions under pain of death after he was captured when infiltrating BTC HQ. When the heroes get to know him better, he turns out to be a Lovable Rogue rather than a ruthless murderer.
- Clone Army: BTC employs thousands of copies of Morrison, the single most-talented covert operative US Army has produced. The original is still around, serves as head of BTC security and doesn't think much of his 'sons'.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: When BTC wants to make an example, they use weapons that split water molecules in human bodies, causing the victims to spontaneously combust.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When US government attempts to regain control of BTC, or offers protection to people BTC is hunting, it goes badly for their forces due to the sheer difference in technology level.
- Defector from Decadence:
- Alexa turns out to be one, after seeing what's going on inside BTC's top secret prison.
- One of the Morrison clones betrays the BTC off-screen, enabling the heroes to infiltrate their systems.
- Designer Babies: Alexa is one. Her very body is considered a technology level eight artifact - something she very much does not appreciate.
- Gravity Screw: Using one of the portable gravity mirror suits to fly feels like this. The Kratos, powerful satellite-mounted version of the same technology, can inflict this on any surface target, to lethal effect.
- Government Agency of Fiction: The Bureau of Technology Control, created in 60s to control the spread of technology that might lead to disruption of society. Somewhere along the way they turned into hoarders of advanced tech.
- Hellhole Prison: The Hybernity facility is not a nice place to be in. Clones on guard duty would certainly agree, since the inmates have a great degree of control over the systems of this prison - just not great enough to escape.
- Hypocrite: BTC as a whole goes from preventing disruptive societal change to attempting such a change as a way to maintain their dominance. BTC director is also one, stealing the credit for other people's inventions.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: BTC headquarters is ripped out of the ground by Kratos, BTC's gravity-controlling satellite. Building's trajectory is directed at the satellite itself, even though it will take a while to get there.
- La Résistance: The appropriately named Resistors, who had managed to subvert the systems of Hybernity prison, where they are being held.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Interrogatory AI in Hybernity can inflict one at will. It's used either as a torture method, for example, by making the victim forget their parents or their last name, or as a control method, by making them forget whatever techniques they came up with to withstand the abuse.
- Memory Gambit: Richard Cotton used one to get around BTC brain-scans.
- Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Villainous version. Director Hendrick learns about Hybernity prison having been compromised as the result of investigation into Alexa illicitly accessing the footage from there.
- Nanomachines: Employed by the BTC and others highjacking their technology. Not the 'do everything' kind, but rather specialized types for specific purposes.
- Non-Action Guy: Jon, while young and spry, is by no means a combatant. Still, he manages to stay on the run for quite a while and holds his own during the final confrontation.
- Older Than They Look: Alexa is in her fifties, earning her a nickname "Granny". She looks and fights like she's half that age.
- Redemption Equals Death:
- Varuna ends up erased after doing their best to delay and deflect BTC's response to Alexa infiltrating their HQ.
- Bert Alcott has joined the BTC willingly and is killed when they think they have Grady's cooperation secured. He, however, had managed to help Jon right before that.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: At some point BTC had splintered, with its Russian and East-Asian offshoots becoming independent of the main organization. Three sides has been locked in a cold war ever since.
- Rock Beats Laser: Happens on occasion. Advanced surveillance technology fails to spot Jon hiding in the vents and AIs monitoring street cameras are fooled by sunglasses with a bunch of regular infrared LEDs glued on.
- Rogue Agent: More like Rogue Agency in this case. BTC had no need for its official budget for a long while and their supposed headquarters is abandoned (but still monitored). When US goverment tries to reign them in, the results are worrying, to say the least.
- Secret War: BTC is not the only ultratech faction in the world. It has been engaged in a covert cold war with its splinter groups for quite some time and BTC director hopes that control of gravity will let him shift the balance of power in his favor.
- Shame If Something Happened: A rare example where it's done to help the hero. Varuna can not disobey direct orders and thus uses BTC headquarters internal defense systems against Alexa and Jon - but also keeps making comments that help them disable the defenses or dodge the attacks.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: BTC has tapped into all digital communication lines, using quantum computers to crack any cyphers used. Which, of course, means that they can use any security cameras already present. They also use 'surveillance dust' - a coating of nanoscale particles working as cameras and microphones - inside and around their HQ. That said, this massive flood of information is filtered by A.I.s, who are not the most imaginative and have trouble spotting unusual things if not told directly to search for something in particular.
- Technology Levels: Used in BTC internal slang. Present day tech is considered level two. The scale goes up to at least nine.
- The Villain Knows Where You Live: In the past BTC pulled this on investigators attempting to tap their communications. It worked.
- Tunnel Network:
- The university where Jon was tutored has one. Since the tutoring was unofficial, he had made extensive use of that network, which helps him later.
- Similarly, the BTC uses old tunnel network that is connected to their HQ. Those are straight as an arrow, and use of gravity tech means travelling through them is more akin to falling down a mineshaft.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Splinter factions of BTC simply disappear from the plot. Their fate isn't mentioned in the epilogue either.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Bert Alcott, Jon's old mentor.
