The founders of Immutrends, Mick Delaney, Grant Tracer, and Emily Adkins, design and build a nearly impenetrable underground complex in Western Montana called the Core. Inside that complex are over 150 people of all disciplines and skills. There is enough food, water, and resources to last over 20 years. As the pandemic caused by Morphgen advances, the Core, led by vaccinologist Emily Adkins, begins developing a serum to counteract the virus Morphgen has released.

But Morphgen counters with AI entities, cyborgs, sentient machines that have the power to keep the pandemic alive. As hope fades for mankind, a person no one expected rises to stop Morphgen's plague.