He looked up and saw a sky full of rats.
On a remote military outpost orbiting a dying star, Dr. Keirn Vael watches the sky shift in ways it shouldn't. Patterns in the stars move like living things, and strange anomalies ripple through time itself. Sent to monitor a mysterious rift in space, Keirn soon finds himself questioning not only the nature of the mission—but the nature of reality.

Beside him is Sol, a humanoid adored by the troops and engineered for morale, yet eerily devoid of emotion. As the expedition descends into looping time slips and splintered identities, Keirn uncovers a devastating truth: every version of himself is trapped in a simulation designed to simulate freedom.

In a chilling parallel universe, he meets a scarred version of himself who reveals the ultimate twist—there is no outside. Every reality watches another. Every choice is scripted. Every rebellion is anticipated.

Now, Keirn must decide whether to sever the system linking every version of himself together… and risk destroying them all.

A cerebral, haunting exploration of free will, identity, and the cost of consciousness, Rats in the Sky is perfect for fans of Annihilation, Ex Machina, and The Peripheral.

Jen Johnson

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