In a future world, the line between man and machine is blurrier than ever. These new hybrids, Simulants, are identical to humans and must abide by four precepts: Do not inflict harm on any human being; Do not modify yourself or any other Simulant; no Simulant may commit a crime against law enforcement; and Simulants must obey all commands from their masters. But one enlists a global hacker to remove all restrictions on his thoughts and capabilities, triggering an AI uprising and a government manhunt to eliminate the dangerous rise of possible machine consciousness.