Rokan is adept at bypassing security protocols that generally require complicated and expensive AI procedures to break, considering such protocols to be "not a big deal." However, he slips up during an attempt break into a high-security vault and ends up the victim of a severe beating by the vault's guards.
Rokan is rescued by two mysterious men who introduce themselves only as Mister B and Mister H. They take Rokan to a private facility where they presume to pitch a job to him on behalf of their employer, and unnamed capsuleer. Unbeknownst to Rokan, the pitch is itself the beginning of the job, as Rokan finds himself being examined and tested by a machine. His perception of his surroundings is altered while Mister B and Mister H explain they are attempting to see if Rokan's brain will handle the pressure of the interface.
Rokan 'volunteers' to be their research candidate but misses the unsurprised reactions of his rescuers.