bioengineered-security

In this chapter, Coney, a transgenic individual, must traverse the dangerous Soft Sector—a quarantined zone inhabited by failed bio-experiments and guarded by lethal Macro2phages—to deliver a dose of trope to Peej Foxx. Despite his fear and the threats posed by hostile inhabitants and security systems, he crosses into the Soft Sector but is captured by a decrepit army-surplus dung beetle that mistakes him for a corpse and begins to bury him while reciting a syncretic religious prayer. The chapter explores Coney's internal struggle, the societal segregation of bioengineered beings, and the precariousness of life on the margins of a biotech-dominated cityscape.