The place is New York City, the year is 2050. The Big Apple is as gritty as ever, but these days, technology is king and money is queen.

For Roxë Jones, the only ticket out of a dead-end life is her high IQ. She is a Virtual Reality prodigy, and under the guidance of her mentor Professor Elliot Robinson, she’s racing to finish a corporately funded VR project called Mind Expansion. For both Roxë and Elliot, this research project is career-making (or career-breaking). Unfortunately, with the fin

The place is New York City, the year is 2050. The Big Apple is as gritty as ever, but these days, technology is king and money is queen.

For Roxë Jones, the only ticket out of a dead-end life is her high IQ. She is a Virtual Reality prodigy, and under the guidance of her mentor Professor Elliot Robinson, she’s racing to finish a corporately funded VR project called Mind Expansion. For both Roxë and Elliot, this research project is career-making (or career-breaking). Unfortunately, with the final deadline days away, Roxë discovers that a virus has invaded the Mind Expansion programs . . . in the form of a silent, menacing clown. Despite a few close encounters, Roxë doesn’t tell Elliot about the virus, but she does manage to keep the clown at bay. Soon, though, all the pressure takes its toll and Roxë gets sick for the first time in years. In a feverish haze, one careless mistake destroys all of her files . . . and she still must answer to Elliot for what was to be the insurance policy for both of their futures.

Meanwhile, the virus has its own plans. Before she knows it, Roxë is not only fighting to save her precious work -- she’s fighting for her life in a virtual world where she makes the rules but an unstoppable virus keeps breaking them.