In the near future, young tech entrepreneur Declan Marchand invents Perpetuonics, a method of digitizing a living person's character, knowledge, emotions, and memories - and then bringing that person back into "existence" after death. These Digital beINGS - Dings in shorthand - can theoretically "live" forever. They reside in massive servers, where they communicate with living people with the help of a living Compadore. They are also, of course, subject to rules and restrictions . . . until they begin to discover their own power.