In a world of ubiquitous surveillance by machines too small to be seen, real crime is a thing of the past and human agents are only rarely necessary. So when a girl is found murdered in the former U.S. territory of NorCal, U.S. Marshal Dick Sturdy finds himself attempting to unravel a bizarre mystery while threading a path through CIA interference, nanotechnology run amok, the paranoid sovereign Republic of Texas, a talking horse - and a threat to the entire human race.