In the post-industrial city of Pattium, which emerged after an ecological catastrophe, where water is a luxury commodity, and the poor district, Mizeria, is separated from the rest of the city by a high wall, empathizers, devices invented by the Engineer, are popular – devices that allow you to record and recreate extreme emotions and experiences
Sara Schwartz, a policewoman from the city’s customs, gets a new case. On the empathizer platform, someone posted a video of him taking a shower. The problem is that access to water in Pattium is strictly limited. In addition, the recording was uploaded from the account of one of the employees of Empathy, a manufacturer of devices.
The investigation is progressing rather lazily, because the case is not of a very large caliber at the beginning. After a few days, another recording appears. This time someone is drinking wine on it – which is also illegal. The matter becomes more serious when – also from the account of one of the company’s employees – someone uploads a recording in which a woman dies of thirst.
The tracks lead to Mizeria, a poor district. The matter is obscured by the recordings made available by the performer Bea Gerwich – they are also where people die. In addition, a bizarre rebellion breaks out in Mizeria – the Awakened, whose hallmark is a teardrop tattooed on their cheek, contest empathizers as devices that provide only a substitute for true feelings and urge people to die of thirst in protest …