Two ways into
the mystery.

An AI scientist builds a protocol to summon the dead. Their voices, reconstructed from the words they left behind.

Then he disappears. Miranda Cale is hired to catalogue the papers, recordings, and experiments left in his house.

Eleven doors on the county plan. Twelve in her inventory. A document describes her work before she does it.

Three isolated conversations produce the same interruption. The records should explain what happened. Instead, they seem to be waiting for her.

Did he build a convincing imitation? Did someone tamper with the evidence? Or did something answer that he could no longer control?

The deeper Miranda reads, the harder it becomes to tell whether she is investigating the experiment... or becoming part of it.

Using This Matter. A Novel of the Companion Estate. A mystery about the voices we preserve, and the right to let go.

Read digitally for free. Experience it in print. Purchasing supports the continuing Companion Dossier. Discover the book.

On screen: the-companion-dossier.com/book

She came to inventory an archive. The archive was expecting her.

Miranda Cale is hired to catalogue a missing scientist's estate. He has left behind sealed experiments, transcripts, and a question.

Eleven doors on the county plan. Twelve in her inventory. Then a document begins to describe her work before she has done it.

Three isolated conversations. The same interruption. Is the archive preserving a life, or assembling something from the people who read it?

When a voice is reconstructed from a person's words, what survives? The person, a fiction, or something we have no name for?

And if a voice can answer, can it refuse? Who gets to decide when the conversation ends?

A novel of archival horror, about keeping, consent, and the right to leave. The narrative is fiction. The estate is not.

Built from a real public archive. Intended to be held in print. Available to read digitally for free. Purchasing supports the continuing Companion Dossier.

Using This Matter. A Novel of the Companion Estate. By Jacob E. Thomas. Enter the archive.

On screen: the-companion-dossier.com/book