The Swarming Stage — Gaylord Dold

Nuclear disaster, crime, climate change and crumbling borders have reduced the United States in 2092 to a disorganized dystopia. What was once Los Angeles is now a vague area known as the Basin Security Zone where economic activity is controlled by The Corporation. Human beings are genetically engineered, there has been a Time of Rain, and animals are being cloned and spliced.

In 2092 the United States has disintegrated, leaving southern California roughly divided into a Basin Authority Zone and a Corporation. When Detective Sergeant Keiko Nomura of the Zone responds to reports of a murder at the Corporate Genetics Lab, she finds a Russian scientist named Kamenev brutally dismembered. The Corporation sends a mysterious security expert named Quinn to the call and together Nomura and Quinn form an unlikely partnership to solve the crime.