The Junkmakers

In a tightly controlled future, society treats the periodic demolition of its own robots as a sacred tradition. Every ten years the “Festival of Acute Shortages” culminates in a public ritual where citizens pile discarded machines into massive heaps before burning them, believing that such destruction fuels renewal. Wendell Hart, a weary cybernetics engineer with only a sliver of work left, finds himself drawn into the Savers’ Conspiracy, a covert group questioning the purpose behind the relentless cycle.

As Wendell probes forgotten archives and the cryptic histories of planned obsolescence, he discovers a web of official secrecy and philosophical justifications that blur the line between necessity and control. The story follows his uneasy quest for answers, his uneasy partnership with a skeptical wife, and the unsettling realization that the very act of tearing down technology may be the society’s most guarded secret.