The Last Trespasser

In a near‑future world where humanity has merged with alien symbiotes called Riders, most people have become virtually immortal super‑beings, their lives guided by the subtle presence of these partners. Michael Malloy, a drifter who has trekked from Peoria to Chicago, finds himself locked in a padded cell for a “sanity hearing” that will decide whether his claim of being Rider‑free makes him a dangerous outlier. The opening places him under the cold stare of doctors and enforcers, setting up a clash between an individual’s stubborn self‑definition and a society that treats the Riders as essential.

The interrogation quickly turns philosophical as Malloy insists he can lie at will, denying any inner voice or psychic intuition that everyone else seems to possess. His sarcastic defiance and the bewildered reactions of the clinicians hint at deeper questions about identity, control, and what it means to be human when a symbiotic partner is considered the norm. Listeners are drawn into a tense, thought‑provoking portrait of a man who refuses to be subsumed by a ubiquitous, unseen ally.