The Silicon Carrion

About this book

In the perpetual acid rain of Novus-Kwa, a sprawling cyberpunk metropolis choking on its own technological waste, two outcasts struggle to survive the crush of corporate syndicates. Jax Juchi, a cynical ex-mercenary coping with a malfunctioning, military-grade bionic arm and a haunting past, partners with Vane Veitongo, a brilliant but paranoid data thief obsessed with the 'phantom stream'—rumors of ghosts in the machine. Desperate for credits to keep their cybernetics functioning, they accept a contract to steal a prototype 'Wet-Drive' from Zondi Heavy Industries, a monolithic corporation combining ruthless Zulu martial traditions with cutting-edge biotechnology. The heist goes awry when they discover the drive doesn't contain blueprints, but the digitized, screaming consciousnesses of human test subjects. Marked for death by Zanele Zondi, the corporation’s sadistic matriarch, and hunted by her elite cyborg assassin, Ganzorig, Jax and Vane must navigate the lowest, most depraved levels of the city's underworld. As Jax's arm begins to succumb to a necrosis-like virus and Vane fights to keep his sanity while tethered to the screaming drive, they must decide whether to sell the device to the highest bidder or risk everything to broadcast the corporation’s atrocities to the city, exposing the rot at the heart of their neon-lit world.