It is 124 years from now. Ken is a young, smart hackmaster/retro resistance fighter, who was found guilty of hacking into a number of augmented realities. He is serving his parole time by working for a beneficent artificial intelligence firm seeking to develop a human level, human-friendly artificial intelligence. Although somewhat unorthodox, his work ethic and outstanding performance puts him on the fast track at the company.

Secondary plot: Ken's brother Orin is the co-pilot of the pre-colonization expedition to Jupiter's moon, Europa, a desirable candidate for a colony due to its vast ocean under a relatively thin ice cap. It is also the most likely place for complex extraterrestrial life forms in the solar system.

Tertiary plot: The earth's future is at risk due to the recent discovery of a dark comet on an earth-crossing path large enough to extinguish a quarter of the world's population and send civilization back several hundred years.

Ken's diligence and creativity instills awe and enthusiasm in his co-workers. He holds the key to the dilemma of taking the AI to a superintelligent level. Will it be human friendly if he decides to unleash it? If not, what will it do? Could it lead humanity to evolve into another species? Can it help the strange happenings with the alien life found on Europa? What can it do to mitigate the apocalyptical disaster of an earth-crossing object? The final chapters switch scenes rapidly until the final chapter's conclusion which answers the questions.

Would you believe the author has the same first & last names as a more famous sci-fi writer? It's true.