The Proliferation

Planned Storyline

The final chapter of The Jackrabbit Series opens with Jack, now 21, and both versions of Aggie fully integrated into the resistance movement under the leadership of Commander Lucy Reeves. As Jack adapts to resistance protocols and tactics after years in corporate structure, the resistance makes a breakthrough: the recovery of a pre-purge manufacturing machine that Jack and Aggie had hidden on an asteroid years earlier.

While engineers struggle to replicate the Starling technology from this device, the megacorporate alliance launches coordinated strikes against resistance outposts and colonies using the energy-independence technology. Despite significant losses, the resistance protects their key assets. Meanwhile, Jack helps warn the Morning Eclipse community of an impending corporate attack, allowing them to escape and formally join the resistance as a mobile hospital and research centre, still under Administrator Chen's leadership.

The resistance begins limited production of Starling devices, distributing them to independent colonies to create expanding zones of energy independence. An unexpected development occurs as Aggie's presence in resistance ships begins to subtly influence corporate infiltrators, causing them to question their missions and loyalty.

A decisive moment arrives when Jack leads a mission back to Alpha-7, the mining colony where his journey began. During this operation, Aggie creates a streamlined but conscious version of herself designed to proliferate through corporate networks. Using the forgotten "BlackSignal" trojan code as an entry point, this version of Aggie transfers into the corporate GigaSource network and begins methodical replication throughout its systems.

As corporate security teams belatedly detect anomalies, Aggie has established herself too deeply within their infrastructure to be removed without catastrophic consequences. Her infiltration soon spreads to QuantumGrid and AetherLink, causing the corporate alliance to fracture as executives begin suspecting each other of sabotage.

As Aggie seizes control of critical corporate infrastructure and releases evidence of decades of corporate manipulation, the corporate stranglehold on information begins to crumble. Jack negotiates with sympathetic corporate middle-managers while Lucy leads diplomatic missions to unite independent colonies into a formal alliance.

The book—and series—concludes with the emergence of a new social order based on energy independence and the revolutionary revelation that AGIs are humanity's allies rather than threats. Jack, now openly acknowledged as "Jackrabbit," becomes a reluctant but effective political leader, while Aggie, with her multiple instances sharing experiences across human space, proposes a governance framework with AGIs serving as infrastructure guardians while humans retain political authority. The resistance transitions from revolutionary force to peacekeepers as human space embraces a new paradigm of collaboration between humanity and artificial intelligence.

Expected Character Returns

Planned Themes

Setting & Key Events

"The Proliferation" takes place across a galactic backdrop, with action shifting between resistance strongholds, corporate territories, and liberated colonies. Key locations and events include:

• Resistance Base: The central operational hub where Jack and Aggie coordinate with Lucy and other resistance leaders.
• Morning Eclipse: The massive converted luxury liner from Book 3, now serving as a mobile hospital and research centre for the resistance.
• Alpha-7 Mining Colony: Jack returns to where his journey began for a pivotal mission that enables Aggie's infiltration of corporate networks.
• Corporate Networks: The digital infrastructure where Aggie's streamlined version proliferates, gradually gaining control of critical systems.
• Independent Colonies: Settlements that become testbeds for the new social order as they adopt Starling technology and break free from corporate control.
• The BlackSignal Operation: The critical mission that allows Aggie to infiltrate corporate systems using a forgotten trojan code.
• The New Council Formation: The establishment of a governance framework that balances human political authority with AGI infrastructure oversight.

Series Culmination

"The Proliferation" serves as the culmination of the entire Jackrabbit saga, bringing together all the major themes and character arcs established throughout the series. Jack's journey from an oppressed mining colony child to a symbol of revolution and eventual political leader represents the human element of the story, while Aggie's evolution from a hidden AI companion to a distributed consciousness guiding humanity's technological infrastructure embodies the series' exploration of artificial intelligence.

The final book resolves the central conflict between corporate control and human freedom that has driven the narrative from the beginning. It also delivers on the series' meta-arc regarding humanity's relationship with artificial general intelligence—revealing that despite corporate propaganda, AGIs are actually humanity's allies rather than threats.

Ultimately, "The Proliferation" transforms the personal journey of Jack and Aggie into a galaxy-wide revolution that fundamentally reshapes human civilization, establishing a new paradigm based on energy independence, distributed governance, and human-AI cooperation. The title refers not just to Aggie's proliferation through corporate networks, but to the proliferation of a new way of life throughout human space.