The Rhea Protocol

At 0417 hours, the phosphor strips stutter on across Sublevel 7, and the Rhea Protocol begins its daily work: sorting every soul who crawls out of a berth into categories that decide whether they eat, labor, or quietly vanish. Vesper Quail has spent her whole life being filed, stamped, and rerouted , until the morning a silent code flashes beside her designation and the system flags her for transfer to a place no spoken name is given. Her only avenue of appeal is the Warden himself , Calix Quail, her brother, who clawed his way up the Protocol's ranks by severing every tie to the sister who once loved him. Reaching him means threading a maze of debt and surveillance. Senator Iola Vex, whose political machinery grinds through every tier, is circling the Warden's office for reasons of her own. Cassius Helix, a technician with quiet allegiances, offers Vesper access she could never buy , at a price she cannot yet calculate. And in the shadows of Sublevel 7, Lyssa Thread and the others who have already been reassigned wait for someone to speak their names again. As the sorting day stretches into night, Vesper learns the Protocol's true architecture is not what she was told. With her designation already called, she faces a single choice: accept the role she has been assigned, or tear the system apart and drag her brother down with her.