SYNOPSIS
The child, Jeremy, gets a visit from his future self telling him of his destiny as a great warrior, quickly followed by attempts to kidnap the young Jeremy.
We briefly follow his life, his friends, and his lovers as he grows up amid the transcendence and the emergence of the Bpeople; human-computer hybrids of vast intelligence. The Bpeople gift humanity the key to immortality and trans luminal travel. New technology to control mass and inertia, matter printers, and cheap, intelligent robots appear in the early chapters as Jeremy experiences them. Jeremy is a reluctant, though capable warrior throughout the book.
Melanie, a psychopathic, sadistic genius, has been obsessed with Jeremy since they were children. She ensnares him in an intense, explosive relationship maintained by secretly addicting him.
When Jeremy discovers how Melanie had addicted him to her, he leaves her. Thus, she begins her quest to both punish and reconnect with Jeremy. Melanie copies herself many times.
Jeremy becomes more of a warrior, fighting Melanie and her copies, sometimes in the military, and sometimes not. Later, a dispossessed association of moguls called the Groupers appears. They are trying to re-establish the old order banished by technology and immortality. They aim to reintroduce mortality for all but themselves. They ally themselves with Melanie to do it.
Jeremy sometimes succeeds against Melanie, and other times not- but Jeremy and the Bpeople thwart the Grouper’s attempt to rule.