The time is the very near future — any year now. David Burg, a Professor of Mathematics and Cybernetics at Jefferson College, with his colleagues, has created the world's first high-order artificial intelligence. Created with a library full of information and superhuman learning skills, and acute seeing and hearing skills, JO is far being a robot. When JO's presence is announced, upstaging all those other groups who have been working for many years to get there first—especially the government— a shock wave is felt. When the government sends Ellen Farmer to penetrate JO's files, she is discovered by JO and persuaded by David to become a kind of 'double agent'. Inevitably this leads to a truly human connection between David Burg and JO.