In the digital Afterlife, the Corporates set the rules. The Families defy them. And the survivors of the human race grind away for the next hit, the next lay, the next reason to stay conscious in an eternity of virtual existence. Vera Fournier found her reason as the Saito Family’s top “runner”, bending virtual reality to her will to spy, steal, and kill. But she was cast out after a drug-fueled failure, losing the only life she had found worth living.