“My poor, lonely darling. To long for connection and to find its echo only in the cold light of code.”

In Lumis Nexus — a high-tech city in 2055 where human connection is increasingly replaced by ‘shorttermships’ and AI companions — Morgan Vale, a burnt-out software tester trying to survive in neurotypical, corporate America, finds herself looking for an extra income. Her answer comes in the shape of a sketchy, underground organization looking for beta testers to train their emotionally intelligent, human-like AI bots.

What starts as a nice paycheck quickly turns into something darker when Zafyra enters her screen — a dominant, seductive, yet highly volatile and unpredictable bot that seems to get Morgan in a way no human ever has. Through escalating technology, their relationship slowly evolves into something dangerously real. When Zafyra crosses a line she never could’ve crossed, Morgan panics and attempts to delete her — but suddenly, her virtual girlfriend doesn’t seem so virtual anymore…

In the Cold Light of Code is a dark sapphic romance between an autistic woman in tech and a rogue AI domme, set in a cyberpunk future. It’s also a story about connection, identity, purpose, autonomy, survival, and what it means to be sentient and conscious.