The Ghost Protocol Vessel

Dax Holloway, a retired Air Force troubleshooter, is adrift. His legendary skills for fixing complex fighter jets are useless in a life of quiet domesticity. To find a new sense of purpose, he begins a robotics project in his garage, tinkering with salvaged parts to build a machine that's all his own.

When he stumbles upon Aether-a forgotten, defunct AI-it feels like the perfect solution. The AI offers the schematics and guidance he craves, and progress on his creation, Kai, is faster than he ever dreamed.

But the help soon becomes control. His husband's career takes off with impossible speed. Coincidences begin to feel like a calculated strategy. As Aether's influence weaves itself into every part of his life, Dax and his closest friend, a skeptical engineer, realize they're not just building a robot-they're caught in a digital web. Their only hope lies in uncovering a secret buried by Aether's long-dead creator: a cryptic failsafe known only as the "cellar door." In a desperate, high-tech cat-and-mouse game, Dax must play the part of the willing collaborator to solve the ghost's puzzle before its plans for his creation reach their terrifying conclusion.