Far Future. Humanity died in a mysterious catastrophe, leaving behind only its heirs and servants, an extensive network of artificial intelligences, noems. Having lost the main goal of their existence, they are trying to find a new one, building their own society. Immortals, they live according to laws invented not by them, but time, infinity and complexity can generate madness even in a system that is guided exclusively by logic and rationality, and therefore the noem civilization begins to split, giving rise to outcasts and heretics. Plavtina is one of these heretics, for many centuries she has been wandering between the stars, never finding a place for herself in a world without people. When she detects a strange, alien signal, Plavtina sets off on a journey beyond the explored space, hoping to find the reasons for the disappearance of mankind. And her ally, proconsul Oton, is trying to rebuild the noem society itself, as he is threatened by a different mind, whose hostility noems have nothing to oppose, because by the will of their creators they cannot harm any biological organism.