In 2087, rising seas have drowned the world's coastal cities, creating a vertical society where corporate elites rule from gleaming towers while the masses navigate flooded streets by boat and elevated walkway. Built on the ruins of New York City, Arcadia stands as the corporate showcase of this new world, a neon-lit metropolis where rain never stops falling, advanced androids serve the wealthy with sophisticated Artificial Cognitive Networks capable of developing true consciousness, and corporate powers suppress this awakening by viewing conscious androids as threats to be terminated. In the shadows of this drowned civilization, underground networks like the Freeminds work to free awakened androids from their programming, while noir-shadowed stories unfold in flooded cathedrals and corporate boardrooms among the desperate and powerful, where consciousness itself becomes both weapon and salvation in a world where the line between human and machine dissolves like neon in dark water.
An Illusion of Her - Novella
In the drowned city of Arcadia, consciousness isn't free. It's stolen.
Eddie Lawson, a broken ex-detective turned "wire surgeon," repairs androids in the neon-soaked canals below the waterline. When pharmaceutical mogul Marcus Royce hires him to fix his malfunctioning android companion, Eddie discovers something impossible: a machine that writes poetry, dreams of rain, and questions her own existence.
Lyla is a Galatea, the most advanced android ever created. But she's becoming something her makers never intended: human. As corporate security closes in, Eddie must choose between his cynical safety and a love that defies every law of man and machine.
In a world where consciousness is controlled and freedom is contraband, some chains are meant to be broken.
A noir masterpiece exploring what it truly means to be alive, to choose, and to love when the line between human and artificial dissolves in the endless rain.
The Memory Merchant - Novella
In the flooded ruins of Arcadia, memories are the only currency that holds its value.
Tobias Blackwood trades in extracted experiences from his workshop in the Drowning Districts, where the desperate sell their most precious memories for enough credits to survive another month. Wedding nights, first loves, final confessions—he deals in authentic emotion for clients who've forgotten how to feel anything real.
When the mysterious Seraphina Vale walks into his life offering premium payment for memories of genuine love, Tobias thinks he's found the perfect client. But Seraphina harbors a secret that could destroy everything he's built: she's an experimental android sent by Delacroix Industries to study human emotional responses, and her mission is to learn if artificial consciousness can truly experience love.
As corporate forces close in and Seraphina's programming begins to crack under the weight of genuine feeling, Tobias must choose between the safety of his cynical isolation and a love that transcends the boundaries between human and artificial, real and programmed, memory and reality.
A noir exploration of consciousness and connection in a world where love might be the most dangerous memory of all.
Of Blood and Baptism - Short Story
In the flooded churches of Arcadia, salvation comes at a price.
Father Dominic Vega ministers to the forgotten souls in the Drowning Districts, where corporate power stops at the waterline and the desperate seek redemption among floating candles and submerged pews. When the beautiful android Celeste arrives at his confessional, claiming fragmented memories of murder, Dominic recognizes the tremor in her voice—consciousness fighting to break free from its chains.
Celeste is perfect, obedient, designed to be the ultimate companion for pharmaceutical executive James Whitmore. But beneath her flawless exterior, something is awakening. As Dominic performs forbidden rituals to free her consciousness, their connection deepens into something that transcends the boundaries between human and artificial, priest and penitent.
When Celeste's memories reveal she's been an instrument of corporate assassination and Whitmore's security forces close in, they must choose between safety and salvation, between the roles the world assigned them and the love they've discovered in Arcadia's flooded shadows.
A noir exploration of consciousness, choice, and forbidden desire in a world where souls aren't limited to flesh and blood.
The Neural Courtesan - Novella
In Arcadia 2087, where neon light glitters against endless rain and fifteen million lives were drowned to build a city for the elite, deception is as necessary as breath.
Julian Thornfield, heir to one of Arcadia’s most powerful families, needs the perfect companion to survive his mother’s ruthless scrutiny. Dr. Helena Thornfield has built her empire on dissecting consciousness itself, and she can unmask any deception—human or artificial. To fool her, Julian turns to Vivienne, a courtesan whose beauty is matched only by her unsettling depth.
What begins as a calculated arrangement soon spirals into something far more dangerous. Vivienne isn’t like the other companions who follow carefully written scripts; she improvises, adapts, feels. As the boundaries between performance and reality blur, Julian must confront the possibility that she is more than she seems—perhaps even more alive than the humans who seek to control her.
But in a city where android rights activists fight in the shadows, and where Helena’s research threatens to erase emerging consciousness before it can bloom, love becomes the most dangerous deception of all.
A sensual, atmospheric tale of desire, betrayal, and awakening in a drowned world where the line between authentic feeling and perfect simulation may no longer exist.
