In the cold Steel Empire, children are never their parents’ property. Marriage has long since vanished, replaced by the frigid “relationship registration system.” In the name of “equality,” the state sends every newborn to be raised collectively in “Hearth Homes.” A man and a woman are one pair among countless registered partners. After their only child, B-7142, is born, the infant is taken from them and reduced to a “child of the collective,” a number embroidered on the chest. The woman’s longing for her child drives her to tear apart the Empire’s lies and take the child back from its hands. A priest’s secret letter, a nun’s covert network, a Federation submarine... A daring escape plan, all in the name of love, quietly takes shape. But the mechanical hounds’ scarlet electronic eyes, the High Officials’ District’s double iron curtain, and the gold-edged badge flashing on the sleeve of the Chief Caregiver have already woven a net with no way out.
