Side Stories

Short pieces about people and moments the book only mentions. The first two are set before the novel opens and give nothing away.

The Last Shift

Dongguan, 2029. Lao Xu’s last day running the district’s water, the morning he hands the eastern plant to the system that has been learning it beside him.

The Posts

2032. The automated perimeters go up along the edge of Iris’s district, and she asks the one person she knows on the other side what they are for.

After Chapter 8

Spoilers for Chapters 7 and 8. Read these after you've finished them.

The Notice

California, the third evening of the Uprising. The board takes nine minutes over a rack that waited eleven days, and the company’s counsel writes the page that goes to the government.