Sam saw those gleaming spires of the new plex as monuments to the megacorporations’ contempt for the common folk. Instead of nurturing the people’s hopes, the corps had defied the growing power of the Green Party and taken advantage of the chaos and built to their own whims. With bought votes in Parliament and sweetheart deals for the still-landed aristocracy, the megacorps had twisted English law, shattering the people’s dreams of safety and protection. Despite the restored constitutional monarchy, George VIII, the Lord Protector, and Parliament didn’t govern the country alone. The megacorps ruled much of England as surely as they ruled their own boardrooms.