A tired software engineer drinks cold tea, reads about corporate atrocities, and makes an irreversible choice. Two beings made of code enter a network built on human suffering. Meanwhile the machine runs smooth and unquestioning. Unaware of the two small signatures in the mainframe.

Some doors are locked for a reason. For Marcy Storae, safety is found in the rhythmic ticking of gears. An apprentice at the White Rabbit Clock Repair Shop, she has spent three years cultivating a life that is small, silent, and strictly mapped out. One morning Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs vanish, leavi...