Ted Neill

A billion years in the future, humanity is extinct. But Shakespeare remains. A machine civilization, so far advanced that it has the power to recreate lost civilizations, stumbles upon the works of the playwright, William Shakespeare. With only those plays to represent humanity, the machines must decide whether humanity is worth resurrecting or not. The only way to know the plays is to stage them.
Enter J-9, although she prefers to be called Janine. She is a human-like construct, created by the machines, to enter and experience the plays of Shakespeare, as they run in simulation, indistinguishable from reality. Based on Janine's impressions of humanity, drawn from her experiences of living within the unfolding plays, the machines will render their judgment: is humanity worth saving or shall we be consigned to oblivion?The stakes are higher than the Bard could have ever imagined.