Girl and the Machine

Beauty and the Beast, but make it sci-fi.

In the not-so-distant future, eighteen-year-old computer hacker Mirabel “Bel” Solís lives under a fabricated identity after her parents were killed by crime syndicate operatives, while she and her older brother Mateo fear the wrath of a crime boss who remains on the loose.

When things go south, Bel and Mateo escape to the wilderness, where Bel picks up an unusual signal. Thinking they’ve stumbled onto a high-tech doomsday bunker that may be the safe haven they need, Bel hacks the security system and lands them both inside an underground smart mansion called the Submundo, which she soon learns is home to a beastly cyborg—and he isn’t happy to have visitors.

However, upon learning about Mateo's past as an information security expert, the young cyborg offers a deal: Help him obtain classified information about the people responsible for his physical condition, and he won't reveal Bel and Mateo to their enemies. But because the cyborg is hiding from his own enemies—and determined to trust no one—Bel must stay behind to ensure her brother’s cooperation until the mission is complete. The Submundo is vast enough that they won't ever have to interact.

Reluctantly, Bel agrees, but she has plans of her own, one of which is to find out who the cyborg really is—or, was—because anyone who has access to a place like the Submundo has to be someone important. In the process, she discovers that there might be an even bigger mystery to uncover, one that has grand-scale implications.

If Bel and the cyborg can work together, there may be a chance they can both come out of hiding for good—as long as the wrong people don’t find them first.

Girl and the Machine is a young adult science fiction fairytale retelling with mechanically enhanced humans, biotechnology, mystery, hate to love, and women in STEM.