Daelia Hall has a problem.

Several, in fact.

Her academic advisor won't get off her back. Her dad is pushing her to leave her doctoral program behind and work for him. The new pilot up at the squadron just damn near crashed her favorite AI-enabled airplane, one of the fabled emergent abiota.

Oh yeah, and a massive meteor just blasted a crater into a nearby park, and the Air Guard wants to know what is going on. Because there's something alive inside this thing, something that seems to be driving every military abiota on the airfield absolutely insane.

With the annual air show on and a military power struggle brewing, it's up to Daelia to uncover the true nature of the object, before the consequences turn deadly.