Imperial America has fallen. Emperor Castaigne, who ruled the nation with secret police and even more secret sorcery, has fled. The portals that connected him to his rumored source of power, the alien realm of Carcosa, have been destroyed. After a century of tyranny, democracy has returned to the USA—if those who fought for it have what it takes to keep it. Along with his loyal crew, the man they called the Technician helped win the struggle. Now he seeks a return to civilian life. Specifically, he wants to eliminate his job. He repairs the suicide machines known as the Government Lethal Chambers. His determination to decommission these instruments of death brings him to the People’s Hall. There a generation of political pioneers works to jumpstart a disarrayed provisional administration into a fairly and freely elected government. But when the body of a murder victim shows up in flagship Lethal Chamber in Washington Square, the Technician sees that the skill set of his crew hasn’t quite gone out of fashion. The ensuing investigation takes him on a journey through the secrets of the old regime, with fugitive war criminals, haunted hide-outs, urban firefights and dread parageometrical rituals along the way.