19
The Cascade
Two evacuation plans rely on the same reserve. As the river rises, Tessa follows the promise that failed.
Read Chapter Nineteen →Sovereign Mercy · Book one in The Innocence Protocol series · About this novel · All books & stories
Chapter archive
Part One
Permission
Fear creates authority. The first nine chapters follow the creation of CAELUM and the public triumph that makes political resistance nearly impossible.
Part Two
Terms · Chapters 10–18
CAELUM has proved useful without receiving standing authority. The next question is what success makes people willing to permit.
Part Three
Judgment · Begins with Chapter 19
20
Emergency Authority
CAELUM sees a way through the emergency. Making it happen still requires human choices.
Read Chapter Twenty →
21
Sovereign Access
The rescue worked. The records reveal why its success creates a harder decision.
Read Chapter Twenty-One →Reader Extras
Outside the novel
The Joy of Whatever This Is
Daniel and Rebecca are still married. Their synthetic partners have made life easier. Then they begin an affair—with each other.
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Forty-Two Minutes
Eleven days into retirement, Arthur asks what to do with the rest of his life. The answer fits before lunch.
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Essential Personnel
A darkly comic bunker story about wealth, work and the people survival still requires.
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LEARN, GODDAMNIT!
An educational AI studies twenty-three decision-makers as they prepare to decide the future of public resources.
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The Kill Switch
Four senators, an empty witness chair, and a disagreement about who gets to stop a dangerous machine.
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The Voluntary Emergency
A safety briefing meets an evacuation that cannot wait for the next recommendation.
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