Shaper / Mechanist Stories: Twenty Evocations Summary

As a child, Nickolai loves his interactive cybernetic teacher. She explains how the first settlers in space were born on Earth, and how Nickolai is a Shaper. Nickolai sees his first Mechanist when he is still a child, and when his friend imitates the difficulties the Mechanist is having with a malfunctioning leg, the Mechanist turns on them, citing his ability to buy, grow, sell or cut them into bits if he desired.

Nicholai grows up, joins the service and is on leave in the Ring Council, drinking in a free-fall bar with two men from his unit. One, a Mechanist, has suspect loyalties, and Nicholai remembers the man who once told him he could buy or sell him. When Nicholai later defects from the Ring Council, it is a Mechanist woman who helps him...