The essence of every construct resides in their core. A fist-sized stone, carefully saturated with khet, mounted in a walking shell – the vessel through which experience will shape them. Wipe a construct's core – strip all that away – and what's left?

It's a quandary that now haunts Samuel's every step. Hundreds of years of life – the chronicle of his experience – taken from him. All that he once was, replaced by visions of a gruesome murder, the piercing silver eyes of a ruthless hunter, and premonitions of his own destruction. All of it punctuated by the one thing that no construct is supposed to be capable of: emotion.

Relentlessly pursued and adrift in a world that sees constructs as little more than property, Samuel now faces the hardest challenge of all – knowing who to trust.