If the long-feared war has truly started, Seattle sits in the path of destruction. Mayor Ray Huang is as prepared as any bureaucrat can be, but he knows even the best plans rarely make it past the first shot. His citizens will survive, at least: in a slick new era of technological and economic warfare, there's no need to kill people, and combat robots go out of their way to avoid bloodshed. But Ray quickly learns that no matter how efficient and safe machines are, it's the people who can't be trusted.