In the summer of 1992, a blackhat hacker working on a secretive project in Los Angeles is in the midst of defrauding a radio call-in contest when he gets hit with a power surge from an unknown source. Shortly after this, he begins receiving cryptic messages from the ether that lead him to suspect that the people around him are conspiring to expose and destroy his project. Now, he's forced to scramble against both time and his shadowy enemies in order to save his life's work and secure his vision for the future of cyberspace.