“We have to do things that no one has ever done before.”
The AI that controls the Sphere of the bodiless sent explorers on their way to Earth a long time ago. They could arrive at any time and possibly even destroy Earth. To prevent that, Jasmin and Magnus have to go a way that Jasmin in particular resists: they have to transfer their consciousness from Earth to the sphere forty light years away through a microscopic black hole. Jasmin has not the slightest idea what awaits her in this virtual world and whether her mind will ever return to her body.