"I had too many sedatives in my body to scream. My voice was only a whisper. He leaned his head towards me to hear me. I told him that I didn't want to run away anymore. That it made no sense. That we would find the same thing there as here. Another Institute. Other barriers. Other chains. Other executioners. Ric listened to me in silence. Sometimes he just nodded his head. Then he spoke. He spoke for a long time, in a low voice, his mouth close to my ear. Ric found the words to convince me, with the clarity of reasoning that is the prerogative of the "techies": If for all of humanity, the Shuriken are a plague, for us, they are an opportunity." Since the Chinese, winners of the 3rd World War, dominate international relations, they have launched a vast space colonization program. But one expedition turned into a disaster: on the Jupiter side, a team found something very ancient... before being decimated. That's how the Shuriken arrived. Discovered by chance, brought back to Earth by mistake... Wherever they implant their nests, they destroy everything like locusts. They are not even creatures with whom one could communicate. However, some people manage to do so. Children with very special gifts. In highly protected Institutes, they undergo strict training to become weapons. Weapons against the Shuriken. But when several of them escape from these Institutes which are prisons for them, it is not to fight against the Shuriken. They even used them to thwart the research. A chase then ensues across Europe, between these fugitives whose powers grow over time, the Russian and Chinese secret services... and Randall, a former US intelligence officer who dreams of returning to the United States, which were dismantled by the war, their own Institute."