Nickie Halflinger, the only person to escape from Tarnover -- where they raise hyper-intelligent children to maintain the political dominance of the USA in the 21st century -- is on the run, dodging from loophole to crevice to crack in the computerised data-net that binds the continent like chains. After years of flight and constant changes of identity, at the strange small town called Precipice he discovers he is not alone in his quest. But can his new allies save him when he falls again into the sinister grasp of Tarnover?