Cybernetic nanite technology from an ancient sword has infected him. Now this young man, Dalt, hears and sees the images of people from an earlier time. These are not mere recordings of the founders of his world but virtual humans stored in a nanite matrix now interfaced to his brain. These founders tell him the truth of his world, an uncomfortable truth. From the viewpoint of those founders, his world is a backward place. It's a place where using unapproved technology means punishment by the anti-technology Purists who run his world. Can technology help his people have a better life and really improve his world, or will its storehouse of information corrupt and pollute it? The inner dialog of this young man with the very ones who changed the world provides him answers for his future, but at the same time, he discovers disturbing questions about the past.

He realizes he must search for the wisdom he needs to find the answers. Then he meets someone who has beauty, power, and privilege, yet secrets of her own. What will he do when she discovers his secret?