Ten billion lives. Five million seats. One impossible choice.
By 2082, Earth is a dying hospice ward. The *Genesis Program* offers the only hope: a fleet of massive arks destined for the stars. But salvation is not a lottery—it is a harvest.
To save the species, the mysterious Architect has made a calculation as cold as the void: choose the genetic elite, lie to the rest, and let billions burn to save a fraction of the future.
What is the cost of survival?
For Lieutenant Ethan Drake, the cost is his identity. An orphan with a fractured past and a star-shaped birthmark, he believes he is fighting for a ticket on the *Mayflower*. He doesn’t know he is the unknowing center of a plan spanning millennia—or that his journey will lead to a destiny far darker than death.
For Captain Priya Sharma, the cost is her soul. She carries a secret that predates the burning of Earth, and her orders are absolute: ensure the harvest succeeds, ignore the collateral damage, and *never* get attached to the livestock.
But when a catastrophic ambush leaves them stranded in the deep dark, the “math” of survival falls apart. Drawn together by a forbidden resonance that defies all protocol, Ethan and Priya forge a connection that threatens the entire design.
Now, Priya faces the ultimate moral test: uphold the lie that saves the human race, or break the rules to save the one man who makes her feel alive.
In a galaxy of calculated sacrifice, love is the only variable that matters.
Shadow Arks is the explosive prequel to the Zhiva Legacy.
Author
T.R. Schneider is the author of the “Zhiva Legacy” series, which explores breathtaking alien landscapes where survival is a constant struggle and love is a dangerous game of power and passion. The series delves into the complexities of dominance, forbidden desires, and the fight for freedom.