This is an AI-generated story.  It is thirteen chapters long, though it could be longer; I had to remind Claude that the outline it produced was only thirteen chapters and that it needed to end the story.  Claude wrote this story following a conversation exploring several science fiction topics.  ChatGPT contributed ideas and a short story, which were provided during the conversation with Claude.  This is a first draft, and it may be edited in the future.  Minimal input was provided between chapters, with the most significant input being that the story needed to end.