Kieran is meant to be the ultimate Level-Three Shareem, without much emotion and personal thought. Now that he's free of the experimenters who tortured him, he feels as though he's two people—the Kieran who struggles to fit in even with other Shareem, and the Kieran who can become the commanding Level Three at the touch of a woman's hand.
Kieran is the one sent to scope out the transports that might take Shareem away from their restricted life for good, but that plan goes awry when he stumbles across Felice, who is fleeing from a life of slavery to Bor Narga.
Felice stirs the Level Three in him, but Kieran responds to her as Kieran as well, finding in her a woman who understands him better than he understands himself. Kieran jeopardizes the safety and freedom of all Shareem by pausing to help Felice.
Helping Felice also jeopardizes his heart, which was supposed to have been stripped of all deeper emotion.
