Server Extant

The singularity has come and gone and nobody noticed. Quantum servers, and the artificial intelligences that feast upon their unbounded bounty, have made half of humanity obsolete, robbing them of that popular substitute for purpose, a job, and leaving them to wallow in the possibilities of a dubious online immortality. At this time, Knet, something that began as a freeware experiment in a physics engine that modeled scarcity as a feature of its own processing limitation, has expanded into an entire world, running as an OS source on thousands of linked mega-servers, each capable of simulating an entire planet in real time. Steve had thought he had broken his Knet addiction, informed, partially, by his self-professed resolve to lead a more meaningful life and, more realistically, by the possibilities of actual sex with a physical woman, his girlfriend Gillian, who hates Knet like she hates cancer, death and people who fail to properly punctuate while texting. However, as Steve has emerged from the Knet's delirium, his more creative and intelligent brother, Colin, has fallen deeper. Now to save his brother's life, Steve will be forced to re-enter the game, to challenge the vindictive fury of an online hegemon, General Motor, master of the unstable but all-conquering Player's Federation, and follow his wayward brother into the heart of Motor's power.