What if our civilization is more advanced than we knowThe New York Times bestselling author of Daemon--xthe cyberthriller against which all others will be measuredx -Publishers Weekly --imagines a world in which decades of technological advances have been suppressed in an effort to prevent disruptive changeAre smart phones really humanitys most significant innovation since the moon landings Or can something else explain why the bold visions of the th century--fusion power genetic enhancements artificial intelligence cures for common disease extended human life and a host of other world-changing advances--have remained beyond our grasp Why has the high-tech future that seemed imminent in the s failed to arrivePerhaps it did arrivebut only for a select fewParticle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves what theyve been working toward for years a device that can reflect gravity Their research will revolutionize the field of physics--the crowning achievement of a career Grady expects widespread acclaim for his entire team The Nobel Instead his lab is locked down by a shadowy organization whose mission is to prevent at all costs the social upheaval sudden technological advances bring This Bureau of Technology Control uses the advanced technologies they have harvested over the decades to fulfill their missionThey are living in our futurePresented with the opportunity to join the BTC and improve his own technology in secret Grady balks and is instead thrown into a nightmarish high-tech prison built to hold rebellious geniuses like himself With so many great intellects confined together can Grady and his fellow prisoners conceive of a way to usher humanity out of its artificial dark ageAnd when they do is it possible to defeat an enemy that wields a technological advantage half a century in the making.
