Microscopic "nanobots" kept the wheels of civilization turning but
sometimes went rogue, with disastrous consequences. Lance Michaels had
grown up with a body filled with nanobots, which he could send out in
invisible swarms, still under his control, and reprogram a rogue "hive"
out of existence. But his latest job may be his last. Sent to defuse a
hive that has taken over an entire planet, he finds that a psychotic
child with control over nanobots like his own, but more powerful, is
directing the hive and preparing to send nanobots out from the planet to
control the entire human-occupied galaxy.