Synthetic Summer MTA
A suburban near-future drama about friends who build an illicit synthetic ecosystem in a backyard

About this book:

In the near-future suburbs, teenagers Maya, Jaden, and Priya transform a neglected backyard into an illicit "synthetic ecosystem" to rescue endangered spotted salamanders displaced by corporate development. Using salvaged materials, clever engineering, and a "forest under the deck" to hide from drones, they create a thriving sanctuary while maintaining a "treehouse" project as a front for their neighbors. Their DIY conservation efforts flourish into a complex biological refuge, blending high-tech surveillance with raw ecology to protect creatures the law has largely ignored.

The project faces mounting pressure as the group navigates a web of suburban suspicion and corporate predation. A viral drone clip brings unwanted fame, triggering a crackdown from municipal compliance officers and a predatory partnership offer from BioSynth Solutions, the very company destroying local wetlands. As the neighborhood association turns against them and legal fines mount, the friends face internal "fault lines" and the reality that their sanctuary has become a target for those who wish to own or regulate their ingenuity.

In a final act of defiance, the group organizes a clandestine "exodus," relocating their last salamander to a protected state wetland and releasing their research data as open-source to thwart corporate patents. They ultimately dismantle their physical habitat to satisfy a city decommissioning order, burying their secret beneath a layer of standard suburban sod. Though their backyard returns to an unremarkable green rectangle, the teens emerge with a hardened sense of agency and a lasting bond, having proven that grassroots care can outmaneuver systemic indifference.