Arthur is a debugger — an operative who rescues people trapped in experimental 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 him and his father a ticket out of the climate refugee camp they 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 just invented AI agents to replace him, and he's stuck babysitting one. Yet Mantis — his new AI partner — is much more lifelike and capable than he expected. And she's got big plans of her own. Plans that could help him get the money he needs, but that also could get him caught up in something even bigger and more dangerous…