An AIU cannot commit suicide - but URDO, the Union Republic Defense Orbital, an armored artificial intelligence unit in control of a colony star system on the edge of nowhere, has been programmed to issue a contract for its own destruction, and that time has come. Klaus Amerman, an undistinguished mid-list Syndicate ship pilot, is conscripted to carry out the deed, but he is desperate to avoid the job. Urdo is deadly dangerous, and as anyone knows, it is programmed to defend itself. He is given a ship, but his enemies abound, and he is immediately put to flight. On the run from everyone, he must sort through all the demands and all the subterfuge to unravel his predicament. Most difficult of all, he must even discover what lies he has told himself. He will have to exceed everyone's expectations if he is to survive, or if he is ever to succeed in killing Urdo.
