Arthur is a debugger, an operative who rescues people trapped in VR sims gone wrong. It's dangerous work that can lead to brain damage or even a permanent coma.

It ought to pay better. Enough to buy Arthur a ticket out of the refugee camp he and his father call home. Yet the gangs and the corrupt contractors that run the camp eat up most of his pay. He's barely able to afford his father's sim sickness medications.

To make matters worse, they've invented AI agents to replace him, and he's stuck babysitting one. Yet Mantis — his new AI partner — is not what he expected. She's smart, funny, capable and caring — more caring than most of the people he knows in the camps. And she's got big plans. Plans that could help him get the money he needs. But that also could get him caught up in something much bigger and more dangerous…