Civilization rests on the shoulders of outcasts. And when it needs someone to operate the power stations located three kilometers deep in the Pacific, it searches for special people for the Rifter program. Those adapted to a dangerous environment—so used to injuries and chronic stress that life at the edge of an underwater volcano becomes a relief. But among the cliffs and sinkholes of the Juan de Fuca ridge, there are things no one expected to find—and enough pressure can turn even a victim accustomed to everything into someone made of steel. Still, when the people above realize what has happened, the outcasts and the rejected are already holding a secret capable of destroying the entire world.