After the climate collapse of the Earth, humanity lives partially on a planet called Xalypso. The population is given a monthly budget for consumption because most of the work is done by androids. Their ruler, a power-hungry mutant, wants to colonize more planets with his military. But a political opponent hires bounty hunter Nova, who is 50 percent female cyborg after several surgeries ...

Tom Knocker is a pseudonym of Thomas Neukum. Ironically, the translation of this novella was done by an artificial intelligence.