Book excerpt: Echika’s stubborn insistence on protecting the secret of the RF Models’ Laws of Respect has driven a wedge between her and Harold. As the two partners grow distant, it comes to light that TOSTI, the mysterious AI they’ve been investigating, may have been developed on Farasha Island, an artificial landmass constructed off the coast of Dubai where researchers pioneer new technologies. When Echika is ordered to travel there and investigate with a small team, she discovers that nearly everyone living on the island has been assigned an Amicus double in an experiment called Project EGO. But soon after Echika and the others’ search for answers gets underway, Bigga is rendered unconscious in a peculiar accident, and it becomes apparent that nothing on the island is as it seems...