From Book 1: Limited space requires limited numbers. The year is 2059. Noa Blake is just another normal 15 year-old. Except in The Territory normal isn't normal. The richest children have a node on the back of their necks and can download information and bypass the need to study. In a flooded world of dwindling resources, Noa and the other 'Norms' have their work cut out to even compete. And competing is everything - because anybody who fails the TAA exam at 15 will be shipped off to the disease-ridden Wetlands, which means a life of misery, if not certain death. But how to focus when your heart is being torn in two directions at once?