On the eve of Luca Lee-McNabb's twenty-third birthday the quantum intelligence, Athena delivers her some bad news. Due to a devastating attack on its infrastructure it can no longer protect her and keep her hidden. She must leave Earth immediately and try to make it to New World One, a gargantuan habitat being constructed out in the asteroid belt.

For Luca, leaving her home means potentially exposing herself to the powerful VanHeilding family, who will stop at nothing to harvest her unique biology. They have created a formidable army of Node Runners, people who can jack-in to the data-grid, corrupt the flow of information and attack the QI network. Not only that, but they are now actively searching for her, hunting her down.

If Luca wants to get to New World One and see her family again then she must dig deep and face her biggest fear — jacking-in to the data-grid and facing down the Node Runners. But by doing so she faces a very real risk of brain death. Yet it is either that, or ending up being dissected in a VanHeilding genetics lab.