In the cutting edge of the future, there's also a ragged edge, the place where people end up when they've fallen financially, and can't get out of the trap of looming ruin and the slums of Rock Bottom. Mac and Neph are young people whose families are facing this ruin, and so they set out in the only way they know how: joining the Circus, the most widely-viewed broadcasting experience in the Pan-Galactic Republic. And the most popular of all the shows that the Circus airs is the Arena, where those who aspire to art risk everything for fame, trading blood for gold and glory. Naturally enough, even in a scenario where everything is bound to go awry anyway, Mac and Neph soon discover that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes of the Arena than they initially thought.  The show is also the battleground for a thousand covert political games, intrigues by aspiring artists, writers, and so forth, who are perfectly willing to assassinate each other if given half a chance, a place where those seeking quick citizenship in the Republic can prove themselves...and last but not least, the staging area for a rogue sapient robot bent on conquering the universe. That last issue soon looms large before Mac and Neph, as they find themselves cut off from the Circus and left to fend for themselves against this psychotic menace.  Fortunately, they also discover several new friends and allies in their desperate fight: Aleph Null, the naive former asteroid mining robot who recently gained sapience herself; Ferdinand, the ancient warrior stolen from his people to fight and die for the amusement of the masses watching the Arena show; and Chompy, a happy little psychopath with lots of teeth and a love for biting things. In these dire straits, with the fate of the Republic and their own lives laid out on the line, Mac and Neph set out with dogged determination, bloody violence, and a lot of casual conversations about their favorite books from Old Earth.