Balmoral Murraine works in a battery, assembling devices she doesn't understand for starvation pay. Pasco Eborgersen is the pampered son of an Elite, trying to navigate the temptations of the Pleasure Houses, the self-sacrifice of the faith, and the high-octane excitement of steel ball. They never should have met, and now they will rip the world apart. What happens when ninety percent of the world lives on skaatch -- a jellyfish and insect composite? What happens when mankind spends more time in alternative life sims instead of in the "real" world? What happens when economic interest is the sole determinant of global decision making? What happens when a single secret is discovered that calls into question everything we have ever believed?