On Conglomerate Citizenship

The Conglomerate Government of Souvern Novarica, Incorporated promises its citizens a good life. Shelter. Sustenance. Security. The basics, guaranteed. Opt into a position of service and you unlock premium benefit tiers: better residential units, broader nutritional options, upgraded healthcare, wider entertainment packages. Work hard, earn credits, live well.

Clementine Jones believed every word of it.

She grew up in a rural community, earned a scholarship to a prestigious school, and stepped onto the path the Conglomerate laid out for her. Processing division. Steady work. A life that, on the surface, looked exactly like it was supposed to.

That's the thing about systemic control. It works best when it feels like freedom.

The world Clementine trusted, the rules she internalized, the comfort she took for granted, none of it disappears overnight. It unravels. Slowly, then all at once. The same structures that felt like safety begin to reveal themselves as surveillance. The benefits that covered her basic needs turn out to have carried a price she never agreed to pay.

She didn't sign away a few discretionary credits. She signed away herself.

CALLED is the first book in the dystopian speculative fiction series The Algorithm of Life. Clementine's story is one of resistance, identity, and the cost of waking up inside a system designed to keep you asleep.