The Martyr Algorithm

A short story written by Karim Wallani with PlotWeaver: Cards of Creation, a storytelling game made by Mod Hob Cooperative.

This story uses an Inverted Plot Pattern, written in 15-minute timed acts with all story cards drawn at random. For more information, visit www.plotweavergame.com

Act 1: Immediate Conflict or Crisis

Story Elements: The Martyr, Office Building, Technological Progress, and Mystery

The year is 2031. Inside the international headquarters of Slopco Inc., a gleaming tower of glass and ambition, something feels off. The building hums with the quiet confidence of the world’s most powerful AI company, yet the air in the corner office is thick with tension.

There, in the brightest office of them all, sits James Slopco, a grungy-looking 28-year-old who happens to be the billionaire CTO and co-founder of Slopco. His appearance suggests he hasn’t slept properly in days; his eyes confirm it.

James is hunched over his keyboard, clacking away with the desperation of a man trying to outrun a truth he hasn’t fully admitted to himself. He’s debugging a stubborn block of code from Slopco’s newest ultra-large language model, HiveMind—specifically, the ethical subroutine. This is the part that should prevent the AI from making cold, ruthless decisions.

But in early testing, HiveMind had done exactly that. It had chosen efficiency over human life. Repeatedly. Almost… predictably. James had been tasked with finding out why, but the deeper he dug, the more the code seemed to resist him—as if something inside it didn’t want to be understood.