Earth. The near future. Internet technology has evolved to the point where humans are connected without intermediary devices. Communication is instant. Social interaction is incessant. The wealth of human knowledge is accessible with a thought. Tommy Pierre Antikagamac, the world’s most popular athlete, finds himself suddenly detached from the Hive and captured by a tiny group of free-thinking radicals. The unfamiliar emptiness and silence in his unattached mind is agonizing. As weeks of captivity go on, however, he becomes tantalized by the concepts of privacy, individual thought, and unenhanced mental imagery. In time, Tommy must make a decision of which life he wants, and when he chooses to join his captors in their struggle, he discovers that the reach of the Hive is considerably more invasive than he could have dreamed.