Aria lives in Reverie—an enclosed Pod that receives food, water, and oxygen from its service domes—which keeps its citizens safe from the cannibals roaming “the Death Shop”—the outside world. Pod inhabitants spend most of their time in the Realms—virtual realities provided by devices called Smarteyes—and believe leaving the Pod puts them at severe risk; Aria’s friend Paisley theorizes about what could happen to them: “Our skin could rot off. We could get locked out. An Aether storm could turn us into human bacon. Then cannibals could eat us for breakfast” (1).

Aria’s mother, Lumina, has been in a faraway Pod called Bliss for several months doing medical research and makes daily virtual visits to Aria through their Smarteyes. Five days prior, Aria’s connection to Bliss was severed; worried about her mother’s fate, Aria plans to ask Soren, the son of Reverie’s Director of Security, about the Pod. In an effort to get Soren alone for the dangerous conversation, Aria attends a secret trip to Agriculture 6—a service dome damaged in a recent storm—alongside her friends Paisley, Echo (Theo), Bane, and Soren. Using his knowledge of the Pod’s security, Soren severs their connection to their Smarteyes—which leadership can use to track their movements and conversations—and locks them in Ag 6.