Frayed — Kerry Nietz

ThreadBare is a debugger. He's property, one of the Imam's vast pool of implanted servants. He lives in a smelly, greasy garage on the boundary of the battlefield known as Delusion. All he wants is to complete his tasks, exceed his rival BullHammer, and stay alive. Possibly get a promotion.

When an atypical chore brings Thread into contact with Sandfly and HardCandy, things get complicated. Day by day and task by task he struggles with the life he's always known. Ideas plague him, brutality vexes him, and women distract him.

Then there's the list of offline debuggers, those who've quietly disappeared. Through datamixes--dreamlike records of their lives--Thread tries to uncover the truth. Where did they go? What does it all mean? And what can one forgotten debugger do about it anyway?