Summary

The year is 2287. Both American State and Federal governments are run by a multitude of corporations. In Detroit, the security firm contracted to maintain law and order is "E-SEC," a subsidiary of the the "Echelon Corporation".

After the mysterious bombing of a transportation hub, E-SEC dispatches two investigators to track down the culprits. An examination of the bombsite and some forensic analyses reveals two things: That the bombers appeared to have been operating a robot controlled through virtual reality known as a "puppet" and that it had originated from Detroit's uninhabitable "foundation" level, where all that exists are thousands of highly secure factories, long abandoned buildings, and people who actively chose to live in seclusion.