Six chapters. One man. A facility he cannot map and a system he cannot ignore.
Former German national living in the DACH Grauzone — ungoverned territory where a country used to be. Technically skilled, pragmatic, cautious. Has a family: wife Mara and one child (unnamed). At the start of the story he believes he still has time. AXIOM selected him from a global pool of one thousand. He wakes in a sealed cell with no memory of how he arrived. His initial response is not panic — it is careful, quiet observation.
Character profile →Lives in Residential Sector 14-G, New China. Designation 586 within MANDATE's compliance grid. Doors unlock at 06:00. The CIU is collected at the door. Scan stations at every junction. She moves through this world efficiently and without friction. What she thinks about it is, for now, her own — one of the few things that is.
Character profile →Stationed at Barracks Complex 7, Eurasian Concord. A DOMINION soldier. Has been in the system long enough that the conditioning is indistinguishable from character. Wakes before the morning horn. Identification check. Correct posture. His body has been shaped into an instrument of permanent readiness — and he has not thought about whether that was a choice in a long time.
Character profile →