When You Had Power (Nothing is Promised 1)

In 2050, climate-driven plagues have reshaped family life, and a legal vow of care offers a measure of security. Power engineer Lucía Ramirez lost her family to a plague years ago and longs to belong to one again. Assigned to a household on a Power Island, where she works among kelp farms and solar lilies, she hopes to find a home with her new housemates: a Senegalese retraining expert, a former Pandemic Corps cook with a cozy channel, and a writer who sees stories everywhere. Each is a refugee in their own way, and Lucía needs their family to work.

When an unexpected power outage coincides with the disappearance of a turtle-bot, Lucía discovers that something is wrong on Power Island One. Though she is an engineer, not a detective, she begins investigating—only to find that someone keeps reaching the answers first and trying to make her doubt what she has seen. Pursuing the truth could put at risk the home she has been trying to build.