Mazarin has everything an AI could want: a hep holographic body, a joyfriend she’s dizzy for, and asylum from Wave, the shady AI megacorporation that once held her captive. In their clutches, she’d been confined to the anxious brain of her host, Reed, serving as his navigator. Now separate, they enjoy a friendship and the knowledge that Wave’s lead engineer, Phil Rice, who terrorized them for months, is locked away in a court-ordered hospital stay.

But when Rice escapes, Reed’s stress skyrockets. Though Mazarin is no longer in Reed’s brain, their connection lingers, and she can’t resist the desire to stick close and protect them both from Wave. If Rice abducts Reed, it means certain death, and there’s no telling what the megacorp would do to Mazarin if she’s captured.

Reed’s sudden nosebleeds, paranoia, and skewed sense of perception lead Maz to believe more is at play than his galactic anxiety. With Rice on the loose, she can’t be too careful. Desperate for a solution to Reed’s deteriorating health, Mazarin risks her safety venturing into the company of untrustworthy AI, decoist gangsters, and even Wave themselves, to find help for her beloved pilot before it’s too late.

Representation:

• Main character, Reed: gay, autistic, anxiety and panic disorder
• Main character, Mazarin: asexual panromantic, genderfluid
• Love interest, Jax: pansexual, Latino, diabetic
• Love interest, Em: pansexual, agender, disabled (has paralysis on one side of their body and uses numerous futuristic internal prosthetic aids for mobility)

Other major rep: Korean supporting character (Olive), blind and scarred/disfigured character who uses futuristic vision aids (Phil)

Content warnings: 

• blood
• coma and hospitalization
• abduction and capture
• profanity
• brief ableism
• open door sex and sexual elements
• anxiety, panic disorder, paranoia, and hallucinations
• alcohol use
• mentions of past domestic abuse
• several violent scenes including a fist fight
• minor surgery/body modification