Alexander Jablokov returns to science fiction with his best book ever. Bernal Haydon-Rumi, executive assistant to a funder of eccentric projects, drops by his boss' house on the way home from a business trip. By the next morning, he's been knocked out, his wealthy socialite boss Muriel has stolen a car and vanished, and the Al designed for planetary exploration that she's been funding turns out to be odder than it should be. In figuring out what's going on, Bernal has to deal with an anti-Al activist toting a handmade electronic arsenal, a local serial killer, a drug dealer with a business problem, a cryonic therapist stalked by past mistakes - and someone who specifically wants Bernal dead.