Murky Waters

Ville Mer has survived its early trials, but transforming a floating settlement of 500 into a burgeoning oceanic town of over 5,000 brings a tidal wave of new problems.

Simon Bienvenue finally feels he has found his place, especially after his mother and sister made the daring escape from the collapsing regime in Varda to join him and Rachel on the seastead. But the idyllic, tight-knit community they once knew is rapidly changing. The addition of a professional softball team, the constant influx of new residential modules, and the desperate need to hire new engineers push Simon's overtaxed maintenance crew to the brink.

When Ville Mer's scientific community demands the construction of an isolated satellite research colony, the resulting political fracture leaves the seastead vulnerable. A shadowy organization known as V.A.S.T. (Voluntary Association of Seasteading Communities) steps into the fray, using extortion and the colony's internal divisions in a bid to force Ville Mer to surrender its autonomy.

With the city's infrastructure literally buckling under the strain of explosive growth, Simon must step out of the maintenance bay and into the political crosshairs. To protect the only safe harbor his family has left, Simon will have to outmaneuver V.A.S.T. and unite a fiercely divided colony before it tears itself apart.