Tunnel Vision

Slink's never heard a robin sing. He's never seen a sunrise. He's never felt the rain softly pelt his skin or the wind blow dust in his eyes. Slink's marked the passage of his 12 short years in a bubble--sharing the protected environs of three giant domes with Garsow's three thousand other inhabitants. One unremarkable evening Slink slips from the Garson nursery, the only home he's ever known, in the company of a wanted criminal. Neoko hustles him toward the subterranean service tunnels fastidiously avoided by members of the Model Society. His is not the grand rite of passage enjoyed by his peers, but a quiet disappearance noted only by those who know of his notorious heritage and his extraordinary intellect. In the span of a few minutes, Slink's sheltered existence careens toward life on the margins. The Tunnel Rats who wait in the shadows to receive him are the fanatical leading edge of the Technoid resistance, dedicated to bringing down the Supernet. If Slink descends into the tunnels, it will surely mark an ending. The hope to which he clings is that it will also mark a beginning. If he survives, Slink may one day determine the shape of his fledgling society whose members are on a collision course at the intersection of humanness and technology, a shrinking landscape in a divided society.