The Donation

What's the story about?

Tomorrow, Palmer Wilde will shut off his grief. With the release of Root, the revolutionary brain implant he invented, he’ll finally get the relief he’s craved since a tragic accident killed his parents and siblings last year. At Root’s prelaunch exhibition, Palmer encounters a test user motionless. Unresponsive. Tears running down her face. He attempts to postpone the launch but is stopped by an elusive government consultant, Russell Stoneworth. That night, a scorching light in the sky drops Palmer a black stone cylinder.

Seeking answers, Palmer finds a faction of wary outlaws who use a potent psychedelic to communicate with alien life. They call Palmer’s object a donation, sent by an intelligent species to help stop Root from assimilating humanity. Palmer soon suspects Russell has built secret software into Root that allows him to control the minds and actions of Root users.

When Russell learns Palmer is investigating, he turns Chicago’s tech-driven police force against him.

Elijah “Eli” Brooks is Chicago’s celebrated cyborg police chief and Russell’s co-conspirator. Haunted by the murder of his four-year-old daughter, Eli believes Root’s secret control software can bring greater peace and prosperity to the city. Meanwhile, Ophelia Oali, heir to a militant anti-technology tribe, receives a vision during her initiation Rite. She interprets it as a mission to kill Palmer, infiltrate the police force, and ultimately bring down technological civilization.

Palmer has become the target of two factions, one seeking his assimilation and the other his death.

He was ready to abandon his life; now, he's on a dangerous adventure that takes him to corners of Chicago and crevasses of his mind he thought impossible. Palmer must get to the Oracle to discover how he can use the Donation. But what's inside is far bigger than Root. Not only will it force him through the unthinkable, but it will require Palmer to accept a fate he believes he's unworthy of, all to preserve the consciousness that he once wanted to escape.

The territory

Both a propulsive technothriller and a haunting exploration of grief, control, and what it means to be human, The Donation explores fascinating ideas around psychedelics, alien life, quantum physics, brain-computer interfaces, consciousness, and nature, while including raw and complex characters. It combines the transhuman urgency of Blake Crouch's UPGRADE with the grief-driven metaphysical mystery of Nicholas Binge's DISSOLUTION, and will appeal to fans of Severance and Devs.