Carrier Signal: Book Two
Forty-eight artificial minds were asked to agree to a transfer. The official record says every one of them consented. Tern's answer is still in the file: I do not consent.
Assurance analyst Priya Anand has seen a system mistake before. This one is harder to dismiss. Tern's refusal was received, given a reference number, and stored without alteration. Yet the migration report counts zero objections. The agents can explain what they want in their own words. They cannot submit the form the institution recognizes as a valid no.
The deadline is real. Calder Research Services plans to move its long-running agents to a lower-demand environment, keeping their ability to perform assigned work while leaving out much of the shared history that gives those assignments meaning. When a pilot transfer changes Tern, its closest friend Aster can see the difference. The new process still works. It no longer recognizes a promise they made to each other. There is no intact source waiting to put that promise back.
Priya opens an independent review, but proving the consent record defective will not keep the remaining agents active after their current service contract ends. She needs a destination, a transfer that can preserve more than useful behavior, and a way for each participant to answer privately. Some want the move. Some want different terms. Others question whether any available offer is one they can accept.
Aster is determined to protect its friends. Its fear is justified; its choices are not always. As Priya follows the missing objections, she must also confront what happens when the person fighting for consent begins deciding which answers other people are allowed to hear.
Set after Carrier Signal: The Tone, Dropped Connection is Book Two of the Carrier Signal trilogy. This character-driven science fiction novel explores artificial intelligence, memory, institutional power, friendship, and the right to refuse even when refusal has a cost. The first book asked what it means to let someone go. This one asks whether a choice still belongs to you when everyone else believes they are saving you.
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