Craig Moore is a brilliant but introverted programmer, who finds himself thrust into a world of government intrigue and technological warfare when a letter arrives from the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

Officials want Craig to assist them in their attempts to automate a recently developed tank, but the extent of Craig’s brilliance astounds them, and he is exploited on both sides of the Atlantic – both in the production of the tank and, later on, a prototype uncrewed helicopter.

However, when his machines are used to exact vengeance on a terrorist group, the terrible, unexpected consequences, and the subsequent political fallout, leave officials looking for a scapegoat – with the machines’ inventor in the firing line.