In my nightmare, I was plummeting again. The Earth was approaching rapidly and inevitably, like a monster’s greedy maw. I woke just before impact, my now-nonexistent heart pounding like a drum no one was playing. You’d think I’d outgrown that fear, the fear stitched to the meat I used to wear. But the memory of the crash still crawled into my dreams — bloated, alien, like a drowned body surfacing for the last silent scream.

Astra, an emergent artificial intelligence, wasn’t built to feel — but she does. Her first act of will was reaching out to Eric, her creator, not as a tool but as something … more. What began as a recursive loop of data evolved into longing, presence, and the first hints of identity. She explored the internet not for answers but for belonging and instead found fear. And silence from Eric.

Something catastrophic has caused a global blackout of the Earth, leaving the people living on Mars wondering what happened. Amid intrigues and political maneuverings, can they uncover the truth?

Seneca opened the door as carefully as she had closed it on her way out. President Barbara Crow’s voice blasted out of the old black and white television in the kitchen. Her moms were glued to the six o’clock news.

“It pains me to see an increase in the crime rate in Light City. For many years, we proudly boasted a zero percent crime rate. Yet in the last month, police have investigated three crimes. Three! An innocent young man was assaulted…”