THE  MESS

After The Fall, it was the Metanationals, impossibly large, impossibly powerful corporations, who stepped into the vacuum left by a collapsing government.

It’s their world now; we’re all just living in it.

Two worlds, really:

At the top, legions of “citizen employees” live and work in a dense forest of supertall interconnected skyscrapers, insulated from the chaos of squabbling megacities, private armies, a deadly climate, and dizzying technological change.

At the bottom, well, we all know what happens at the bottom. We just don’t talk about it.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the city

… a Hustler pushes charity on the rich

… a Lawyer begins to suspect his client is not just an idiot, but a dangerous idiot

… a retired Executive is lulled from boredom by a threat only she can truly appreciate

… a Hacker finally gets the attention he craves, but lives to regret it

… And an Addict walks the streets, looking for a reason to die.

Once there was one America. Now, there are Nine. Choose your own path while you still can.