In the furthest reaches of the Delta Quadrant the USS Voyager has encountered many strange and wondrous worlds -- but none so curious as that of the Chiar.

An advanced race whose scientists have become galactic experts in nanotechnology, the Chiar have expanded inwards rather than out. Every inch of their planet is crawling with the tiniest bits and pieces of artificial intelligence imaginable, all of them working in concert to form the lifeblood of this mechanical world. The Chiar themselves are inseparable from their nanobots, which layer their skin and provide additional limbs or senses as required.

Caught up in internal political conflict, some of the Chiar will take advantage of their meeting with the Starship Voyager to embark on an experiment which goes quietly but devastatingly out of control. Never thinking that there could exist a technology they can''t tame, they believe that they can harness the awesome power of the Borg -- a conceit which soons turns out to be their most terrible mistake.