Peter Gustafson wants to save the world. In the year 2984, Peter is an average kid with a secret; he's a well-behaved tenth-grader by day but cryptographic entrepreneur by night. When the electricity mysteriously goes out in his hometown, Peter takes it upon himself to investigate. The adventure leads the young hacker to a large transmitting station and into a battle of wits with the greatest AI ever created. Because the machine requires a human to help to throw the switch to give it full control it had contrived the power outage as a test to lure its latest recruit, Peter Gustafson.