The advent of Webminda vast consciousness that spontaneously emerged from the infrastructure of the World Wide Webis changing everything. From curing cancer to easing international tensions, Webmind seems a boon to humanity. But Colonel Peyton Hume, the Pentagon's top expert on artificial intelligence, is convinced Webmind is a threat. He turns to the hacker underground to help him bring Webmind down. Then, hackers start mysteriously vanishing. Is Webmind killing them before they can mount an attack? Meanwhile, Caitlin Decterthe once-blind 16-year-old math genius who discovered Webmind desperately tries to protect her friend. And Masayuki Kuroda, the scientist whose implant gave Caitlin sight, modifies his technology to help Sinanthropus, a paraplegic Chinese freedom blogger, regain use of his legsunaware of Sinanthropus's role in China's plans to eliminate Webmind. Can this new world of wonder surviveor will everything, Webmind included, come crashing down?