Captain Will Riker and the crew of the USS Titan make contact with a civilization made up entirely of artificial intelligences -- sentient computers who have surrounded a vast gas-giant planet for eons, serving as the first line of defence against an ominous threat that the Titan crew can scarcely comprehend. The long and turbulent history of the AIs has made them deeply distrustful of organics, and their mistrust leads to an unexpected act which radically transforms the dynamic between the ship and her crew.