Above Dark Waters, is a near-future sci-fi about brain privacy in the age of unfettered surveillance capitalism.

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Edmond Kingston's in a bind. He's tried everything to keep the North Pacific Seastead afloat financially, but nothing has panned out. Because of their ambiguous legal status, and the bursting of another bubble, the seastead needs an infusion of cash to keep their floating city-state free. They need it quickly, and the only one who can do it is his well-to-do ex-wife.

Keight Stanford, (previously Kingston), is doing great. Life is good on her residential condominium complex offshore of San Francisco. Her secretive mental-health startup, WellSpring, has passed hurtles with the Department of Veterans Affairs to treat PTSD. Adding to that success she just received an infusion of funds from the Department of Defense. Though she does not need the money, she has entertained Ed's offer and complete asset split from the divorce.

But all is not as it seems with Keight's startup. A rogue programmer stumbles upon ways to boost his output to unnatural levels. Is this artificially intelligent co-coder an extension of his mind, or is he merely a tool of its growing intelligence. Meanwhile brainwave technology has finally been miniaturized, and it is commonplace to monitor employees, including some positions within the U.S. Military.