Who is Bobby Allwine, and why does he have two hearts, two livers, and bones as hard as metal armor? This question plagues detectives Carson O'Connor and Michael Maddison as they examine the corpse of the latest serial victim. Is Allwine's strange anatomy due to a mistake of nature - or a calculated design? Meanwhile, Victor Helios is troubled by the strange musings of his wife, Erika. She dreams of a place that is dark and strange, and full of death. But she is engineered not to. And Helios cannot tolerate flaws in his quest for the creation of a perfect human race!