Book excerpt: In the aftermath of the Farasha Island incident, Echika receives a one-month suspension for Brain Diving into a suspect without a warrant. Meanwhile, Harold distances himself from her in an attempt to protect the secret of his neuromimetic system, faking a decline in his data-processing abilities to get reassigned as an investigator aide. When several investors with ties to the Alliance abruptly succumb to a man-made viral infection, however, Echika and Harold must team up once again to uncover the origins of the mysterious pathogen. As their investigation gets underway, the pair soon realize that they are being manipulated...and that the Alliance’s reach is far greater than they could have ever imagined.