Enforcement officer Theta Beauline has seen a lot while defending Earth's one city. A world built around a 1-10 ranking of a person's appearance, intelligence and moral character may not be popular with everyone but it has worked well enough for most. Theta will do what it takes to protect the system and the people who's lives are bettered by it. He may be a touch bias, however, as an 8 he is pretty close to the top. Theta's views will be challenged when a precocious hacker named Zeta enters his life. The Whiners, as the media has come to call the rebels, have taken a turn for the genocidal and Zeta won't take her opposition to the system that far. She will not let the changes she fights for be purchased with blood and innocent lives. The system may not be fair, or equal, but there must be a better way. With a catastrophe looming these two ideological opposites will have to put their differences aside. Only together do they have the skills necessary to stop the Whiner plot and save the lives of all those who live under the ranking system.