Book excerpt: The first of The Overseer's Favorite Trilogy. The Overseer lives alone at the apex of Atlantis's dome. Through cameras and microphones, he monitors every aspect of Atlantean life, and he's grown bored with it. The only people he lets in are his Favorites - a string of prostitutes and Mistresses who break up the monotony of his life, but never for very long. Enter Marten. A man too clever to be a prostitute and too strange for words. He is unlike every other Favorite The Overseer has ever had. Will Marten bring out the last bit of humanity in The Overseer or will they both fall into the abyss...