Essence

A horrid betrayal lurks in the halls of a secret laboratory where science has advanced beyond the possible: synthetic humans are created and raised, minds uploaded and stored, and immortality is but a prohibited mind-transfer away.

With a rapidly degenerating body, Dr. Gerald Kinsey, a revered pioneer, has long been secretly scheming to ensure his survival, albeit at the expense of snatching the younger and perfected body of his unsuspecting synthetic protégé. But he can’t perform the transfer alone.

When Kinsey resorts to coercing his assistant Dr. Zivanka K. Viena, she, in a desperate move, kidnaps Kinsey’s mind, not without inevitably incriminating herself in an apparent crime and setting off a chain of tragic events. Her situation is dire: Hunted by a special armed force charged to ensure the secrecy of the lab at all cost, Viena, who too is a highly perfected synthetic human, finds herself on the run in a world that knows nothing of her type and would sooner lynch her than help her if they did.

Yet not all may be lost, for what Viena does not know is that the most unlikely eyes are watching her every move.