A programmer who claimed someone was out to get him mysteriously vanishes after trying to download some software from the company's mainframe. His replacement finds out there is a secret project, called Prometheus, to create a universal language that will allow any computer to instantaneously talk to any other computer. If instantaneous communication between millions of computers can be achieved the computers may act as neutrons within the brain in which non-thinking computers merge into a thinking intelligence - the tipping point. When this happens someone will be able to rule the world by using computers.