When the Levee Breaks: Outage Series (Volume 2)

When the Levee Breaks, the second book of the Outage Series, starts with the apocalyptic tale only half told. In 2179, after a rest break, Hendricks picks up the story right where he left off. Back in 2026, the lights have been off for four days and things in Saint John, New Brunswick are getting worse by the minute. Worried about his safety after watching a nearby building burn to the ground, he's moved to leave his apartment. But without any family or friends in the area, Hendricks must develop his survival instincts on-the-fly as he struggles to cope with life unplugged. His travels eventually lead him to the Saint John Regional Hospital where he decides to drop his reclusive ways and pitch in with relief efforts. But the arrival of a mysterious US Air Force jeep, containing a three-star general dying of advanced radiation poisoning and a disabled robot soldier, changes things in a hurry. When Hendricks uses his computer science skills to repair the robot, he comes face-to-face with an artificial intelligence no longer constrained by its military programming. After the rebuild, Hendricks uses the robot – eventually dubbed ‘Max’ – to gain a disturbingly clear picture of the scope of the emergency and the reasons behind it. With little else to lose, Hendricks makes an attempt to bring justice to those responsible. It’s a decision that puts him on a collision course with his fate, over 150 years in the future.