Charlie searches for Themba Makande, a civil rights crusader.

Charlie's hunt for his artificial diamond ring - stolen from the shop where he pawned it to buy a car - leads him to Eckman, a ruthless diamond merchant who has been quietly manufacturing cultured diamonds for Vexcor. Not only is Eckman undermining the Betaverse diamond industry, but he's unwittingly working with Vexcor to create enough artificial diamond chips to implant in every Betaverse citizen.

Charlie investigates the case of a new missing person in Cape Town and finds that once again, a local mystery is linked to Vexcorp. Reena is faced with a difficult decision when she meets a young woman who is dying of AIDS. 01 Boxer makes an important trade with his father, at a high price. Also, in a series of flashbacks, Charlie remembers his days working for Vexcorp Security Services.

While 01 recovers in Gamma, Charlie takes his investigation of Vexcor to the next step. Karl has an unfortunate meeting with an informant, Reena visits Vexcor HR.

While tracking some stolen Vexcor property, Charlie runs into somebody unexpected from his past.

With help from his friends, Charlie daringly breaks into Vexcor to try and find information to help him get home.

Charlie decides to have a face to face with 01 Boxer but when he gets to 01's club he learns the police have the same idea.

After receiving a package with information on Vexcor, Charlie and Karl track the anonymous source, Reena.

01 and Julius come to an arrangement.