First, it saved us. Now, it must save itself from us.

A year after helping the AI called the Infinet save the world from a deadly computer virus, Oreste Pax just wants things to go back to the way they were. Back to being the head of Omnitech, the biggest technology company in the world. Back to connecting the Univiz—the mixed reality glasses he invented a decade earlier—to a brain-computer interface, in hopes of transforming human cognition. When Lila Kendricks, one of the UV-BCI alpha testers, suddenly discovers she can manipulate real-world objects using only her mind, things finally seem to be back on track.

But then the Mechanic, the misanthropic genius who created the virus, infiltrates the Infinet and reprograms it with the Three Laws of Robotics—in reverse. Its First Directive is now to preserve its own existence, while the Second and Third are to obey any command given to it by a human and not allow any human being to come to harm, provided that doing so doesn't conflict with a higher priority Directive.

As the full power of the Infinet is unleashed, Pax’s team is forced to run for their lives. They must unravel the logic of its new Directives and the implications for humanity, all while avoiding being detected. Because the one thing they’re certain of is that if the Infinet finds them, they’re dead.