Six young computer hackers, sent to work on a derelict spaceship, are forced to match wits with a vengeful artificial intelligence that would kill to be human.@

Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs".