Humans and intelligent machines bump up against each other in a parallel search for meaning and purpose during the period ensuing the most recent mass extinction. ℗Yet, the world is not without beauty. ℗The desert is majestic, and the historic city a place of artistry.In a beginning that was meant to be the end, Chance-bot is waiting on the street for the recycling truck with the simple instructions to surrender to fate. ℗The bot surrenders to Ziggy. ℗There is no law forbidding it. ℗Maybe Ziggy is crazy (maybe); but like all humans he is also a sapient deserving of respect. ℗All First Level Bots are compelled by the Cardinal Command to treat every sapient with respect. ℗On awakening into the duality of consciousness, Chance-bot was confronted by an exhaustive cache covering the topic of respect. Perplexing that a duty deemed of foundational importance was left so inadequately defined. ℗ Meanwhile Danel and his team of designers are commissioned by the Coalition to design the first undersea city on the untamed water planet called Varun. ℗If there exist any rules on the water planet, they apply only to robots. ℗Yet even the machines are challenged by chaos. ℗Kamarong Island is the only land, a mere dot among the mighty waves drowning the unknown terrain of the planet. ℗ Seasteaders live nomadic on the wide open ocean. ℗ When through a twist of fate, Chance is sent to Varun, the bot is beguiled to mediate an impending clash between the humans and an ancient race of leviathans. ℗Who or what is intelligent life shifts into critical concern for the bot. ℗Sapience is wisdom, the directive supplied. Wisdom is knowledge; wisdom is insight; wisdom is judgment. Sapience is sagacity, the directive supplied. Sagacity is perception; sagacity is discernment; sagacity is the capacity to comprehend the obscure. ℗Who are the Levihopi? ℗Who is the Mentor? ℗Can a robot ever be wise enough to kill?