Verity Jane is a gifted app whisperer, and she takes a job as the tester for a new product: a digital assistant named "Eunice," a nearly human AI who manifests a face, a fragmentary past, and a grasp of combat strategy. Realizing that her new employers don't yet know how powerful and valuable Eunice is, Verity instinctively decides that it is best if they don't. But in this sequel to The Peripheral by the author of Neuromancer, a century ahead in London, Wilf Netherton and his enigmatic boss Ainsley Lowbeer can look into alternate pasts and nudge their ultimate directions. Wilf can see what is ahead for Verity and Eunice, and he will shape the surprising role they may play in their own timeline.