James D. McEwan

Cyberpunk. A dark future? Think again.

Cyberpunk. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear someone mention that genre? Is it darkness? Constant rain? Some post-apocalyptic tech-baron hell? That’s the popular take on the future of technology and of our place living in such a society.

Razor Maids isn’t that.

In this brave new world, fusion energy has rendered the fossil fuel industry obsolete. The oil barons, once prominent in the halls of power, lost trillions of dollars, and ultimately their influence on global politics faded.

From the ashes, a new world order emerged, dominated by the Chinese technology behemoth Chi-Corp. Holding proprietary rights to the fusion wonder material, Heavenly Wall, their ascendance was rapid. Foreseeing the benefits of an alliance, the Anglo-American house, Mansion, became a key partner, and together they drew up plans for the New Age. Remnants of the old elite, in the shape of the American corporation Fairweather, fell under Chi-Corp’s hegemony, although the public image remains a partnership of equals.

Chi-Corp brought more than fusion. Beholden to ideals of honesty, it introduced the corporate mantra: truth equals profit. Under this banner, it reaped enormous financial success as it chased the consumer dream of creating perfect products. No more lies to sell sub-standard goods. No more fraud. To keep up, the other corporations needed to evolve. Those who could not, continued to peddle lies, but they found out all too soon that the public demanded honesty. Chi-Corp’s dominance grew.

To house the new power-bases, the corporations constructed the skyline cities that rose above the old world (the Street). These gleaming structures of glass and steel became the bright beacon of the New Age. But to maintain the mantra, Chi-Corp and Mansion went one step further. They developed the house AIs and fed them every piece of marketing evidence. Product information, sales stats, failure rates—anything that would engender more trust was delivered to the machine. The AIs then uploaded the truth to the Universal Uplink and beamed it to the world. If you bought from the houses, you knew exactly what you were getting.

Reaping ever-increasing profits from their truthful enterprise, Chi-Corp dismantled the troublesome social media platforms. The major houses used the Universal Uplink to replace the last vestiges of the disinformation era and created a new communication system. Following audited trials, the skyline cities offered citizenship to a new generation of people. The cost of entry? A small surgical procedure to receive your own uplink device. A communicator, an intelligent assistant, and a foundation for further neural augmentation—the personal uplink became synonymous with the Skyliner lifestyle.

No more lies. A renewed faith in science and humanity. And the best products money can buy.

This is the world of Xenia Priest and Xavier Bishop, Mansion’s elite agents—they are the Razor Maids. Sworn to uphold the truth and dedicated to the House, they clean up whatever mess comes their way. But their latest case is a curveball that will send them spinning.

You can read about it here.