Private Penn Cooke - a new recruit to the Empath Corps - tries to get his bearings under the loving supervision of Instructor Tennenbaum.

Captured pilot Iris Faustus plans to resist being broken by the Handler assigned to her, until she discovers that Handler is her bubbly twin sister Mara. Mara’s plan to escape is audacious and risks both of them losing everything in the process, but Iris wants to help anyway.