A young woman with technology installed in her brain and body named Concordat has trouble remembering much of her life. She is unsure of people's names and faces, possibly from being drugged or some unknown reason. When she wakes up, she is instructed by a rat-woman named Vivian to collect three thousand credits and bring them back for an unknown tinkerer to experiment to get rid of the Tell in people's bodies. The Tell is implanted organs given to the citizens of the city at birth. The Tell is connected to the Wave. The Wave monitors everyone all the time: what they see, hear, say, etc. and there are Watchers that keep people in line, much like the authorities. Concordat easily retrieves the money from a lesser-known hustler named Same-Same. When she arrives back at her hideout with Vivan she meets another young woman named Shai, the tinkerer. Shai tells about her experiment making Ooze to get rid of people's Tell. Unfortunately, just as Shai was completing her description, a pair of Watchers came to break up the operation and kill the group. Shai and Vivian run while Concordat fends them off. She is successful in killing the Watchers and is picked up by the two women. Concordat is drugged once again and can only hear bits of a very mysterious conversation involving a woman named Lola.