The Obake Code

By: Makana Yamamoto

Published by Harper Voyager, 2026-02-17

An all-new, stand-alone sci-fi caper from the author of Hammajang Luck: a bored hacker is forced by vicious gangsters to take down a crooked politician...only to find herself up against a code she might not be able to crack. After the heist of a lifetime, Malia has it all: a loft apartment aboard the massive Kepler Station, expensive clothes, and a dev credit in her favorite video game. She's also bored as hell. Three years after retiring her mantle as the Obake, the most infamous hacker in the quadrant--and arguably the galaxy--Malia hasn't taken well to civilian life. So what's the harm in rigging a few cybernetic prizefights and making a little cash on the side? When Malia's scheme is uncovered, she runs afoul of Jeongah Song--the dangerous leader of a local gang with a reputation for brutality. Malia is ready for retribution. But what she gets instead is an offer she can't refuse: take down the local politician leading a "clean up the streets" campaign displacing residents and hindering Jeongah's operations on the space station... or die. Without another way out, Malia takes the deal. Luckily, she has some friends she can call on in times of need: a master thief, a street racing wheelman, and a femme fatale grifter. But as Malia digs deeper into the politician's shady dealings, she finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy that might be too big for her to handle. One that has roots in her own rise as the Obake--a cybernetically enhanced superhacker created by a power-mad genius... a superhacker whose mods are rapidly degrading. Faced with threats on all sides, Malia may finally be in over her head...or stuck--forever--inside her own mind.