A river splits the city. The rulers plate it into ‘private’ tiles and sell the air. Evan, Nina, Orin, Dax—and Diesel the extremely opinionated cat—set out to do something stupid and necessary: make the first truly public corridor.
They don’t bring crowns. They bring anchors, tape, and rules you can read at adult height and knee height. By day they grid the span, stand up a pocket clinic, and teach a crowd to walk the five-and-six. By night they fend off a Span Warden who fines people for ‘walking wrong,’ counter a sabotage ring in the counterweight shed, and build a paper trail loud enough to shame a drone.
Recognition comes—provisional, of course. Then the injunctions do, targeting their ALWAYS hours and Public Custody doctrine. Mid-span duels must end without spectacle, and mercy has a price (it’s logged on the clinic board). To keep the lane open, they’ll post their audit pack in public, win an argument on the stairs, and file the city into behaving.
If they fail, the span closes and care becomes a toll road.
Progression you can feel underfoot: Beacon Pointer Mk I, Span Anchors grid, Temporary Clinics, Siege Panther form, Blueprint Heckle-Edit, and a wall of plates that turns crowds into a corridor.
Inside you’ll get:
They don’t bring crowns. They bring anchors, tape, and rules you can read at adult height and knee height. By day they grid the span, stand up a pocket clinic, and teach a crowd to walk the five-and-six. By night they fend off a Span Warden who fines people for ‘walking wrong,’ counter a sabotage ring in the counterweight shed, and build a paper trail loud enough to shame a drone.
Recognition comes—provisional, of course. Then the injunctions do, targeting their ALWAYS hours and Public Custody doctrine. Mid-span duels must end without spectacle, and mercy has a price (it’s logged on the clinic board). To keep the lane open, they’ll post their audit pack in public, win an argument on the stairs, and file the city into behaving.
If they fail, the span closes and care becomes a toll road.
Progression you can feel underfoot: Beacon Pointer Mk I, Span Anchors grid, Temporary Clinics, Siege Panther form, Blueprint Heckle-Edit, and a wall of plates that turns crowds into a corridor.
Inside you’ll get:
- Engineering puzzles and zero-glory heroics
A courthouse on stairs (with receipts)
Crowdcraft, cadence, and a bell that stops trouble
A cat who obeys posted cooldowns (mostly)
A finale that files its victory in public
Perfect for readers who like clever systems, scrappy crews, and worldbuilding you can lean on. Cross the span. Bring knees.
Genre: Science Fiction
Used availability for Craig Zerf's Span Rights