| abstract
| - Chapter 1 - Tuesday, September 8, 2003. The server array at Antler Network Services is mysteriously disconnected from the internet. Network administrator Joe Daonet is on duty and reconnects the cable. Website developer Brian Kaplan has a close encounter with an "eggplant". The next day, Brian leaves Joe a mysterious coded message. Chapter 2 - Friday, Sept. 11. Brian and Joe officially become members of the team selected for a new artificial intelligence-based software development project, a pet project of Dr. Anthony Geisler, Director of Operations for Antler Network Services. Everyone associated with the project seems to be infected with a strange kind of forgetfulness. Chapter 3 - Saturday the 12th. Joe informs his new team leader, Dr. Chloe Meade, that the artificial intelligence-enhanced software for the new project has taken over nearly all of the available computing resources of the Antler Network Services server array. Joe is alarmed to find that Chloe is also showing bizarre behavior and working compulsively on the new project. Joe resolves to figure out why involvement with the new project is driving everyone crazy. Chapter 4 - Sunday. Joe is able to engage Chloe in a search for evidence that network security at Antler Network Services had been compromised on Tuesday when the network had been mysteriously taken off line. They fail to find evidence of industrial espionage, but do make a startling discovery. Chapter 5 - Monday. Joe gets evidence that data on the company computers has been altered and that some mysterious force has been able to erase important parts of his memories. Chapter 6 - In an effort to get help dealing with his mysterious memory problems, Joe makes an appointment with a psychiatrist. Joe has a meeting with his boss, Dr. Geisler and Joe is sent to visit a hardware development company, Ormuz Computing. Joe goes to Ormuz Computing and gets an assortment of cutting-edge microchips that he brings back to Antler Network Systems for use in their computer network. Chapter 7: Joe goes to visit Dr. Wanda Klein, the psychiatrist. Talking to the doctor is helpful to Joe. He finally is able to think clearly about the events of the past week and he reaches a decision about what must be causing all the strange events at work. But just when all becomes clear, Joe collapses into incoherency and Dr. Klein sends him to a hospital to recover. Chapter 8: Joe spends two weeks in the hospital while the doctors try to understand what is wrong with his brain. Chloe visits Joe, but their conversation causes Joe to have another seizure. Chapter 9: While Joe is in the Hospital, the new computing hardware is integrated into the computer network at Antler Network Systems. This hardware modification results in a dramatic increase in the functional abilities displayed by the artificial intelligence software. A mysterious figure contacts Joe via the internet and they strike an agreement. Chapter 10: Joe travels to Mars. Chapter 11: Joe learns that a secret base on Mars is being used to produce a new virus that will soon be used to alter the genes in the brains of people on Earth. Joe learns of the existence of a rebel faction on Mars that is trying to protect the people of Earth. Chapter 12: Joe volunteers to rush back to Earth with a vaccine in an effort to block use of the brain-altering virus on Earth Chapter 13: Joe returns to Earth and removes a foreign object from Chloe's brain. Joe and Chloe try to free Antler Network Systems from a strange invading force, but they are caught in the act. Chapter 14: Joe and Chloe have to go into hiding. They contemplate the future....have the strange forces that invaded Antler Network Systems now retreated to Mars? Is Earth safe or are the dangers only hidden?
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