Runtime Zero: Streaming The New Infinity (Dark Math Chronicles)

Runtime Zero, the opening salvo in Mick Brady's Dark Math series, traces the journey of a gifted young artist named Will Powers from his drug-fueled downfall in the streets of Manhattan to a future rebirth in a virtual paradise called SubVersa—a world where everything is possible and nothing is forbidden; where Chrome, his digital surrogate, finally lives out his maker's dream of becoming a master artist and in the process becomes a master programmer—a Code Warrior. But all is not well on planet Earth. A powerful virus called Dark Math has been embedded in the chain of human DNA by a band of biohackers, threatening to snuff out human consciousness itself. A cosmic rescue mission gets underway as Chrome, his beautiful muse Juliette, and their fellow Code Warriors begin travelling back in time to guide their makers on a harrowing journey to SubVersa, where they will finally be reunited with the dual aspects of their higher selves and begin streaming the new infinity. Unfortunately, the price of admission will be almost more than any human can endure.

After a brief painting career in New York, Mick Brady went on to become a professor of art and design at the dawn of the digital revolution. An early pioneer of digital painting and one of the first artists to live and work in a virtual world, he recently decided to recast the story of his epic journey in a serial work of fiction called the Dark Math Chronicles. The first leg of that journey is recounted in Runtime Zero. These days he spends much of his time in the deserts of Southern California, where he lives with his wife Liz and their dog, China White.