The second installment of novels by the authors depicts a future state after a limited nuclear exchange twenty years previous. The key characters, or their progeny, carry the story forward. The authors posit that the focus in 2054 will be to forestall the Singularity proposed by Ray Kurzweil in 2006. However, the authors take Kurzweil one step further by proposing a singularity with quantum computing, which will have the power to destroy all life on earth.
The action follows the attempts of various nations, including the US, China and India to control and bring about this super state for humans, expecting to limit that state to just a few in their country and enslave all others.
Familiar characters race to find Ray Kurzweil, hoping he can use elements developed for the singularity to save the life of one of the key players in the events of twenty years before. Others work to disrupt the progress made and keep the new human-technology integrated capabilities out of the hands of those who they see as wishing to end the race for global dominance.
The novel resolves this dilemma in an unexpected manner; with the intervention of a global power no one sees as advanced sufficiently to intervene. This is another cautionary tale that myopia keeps even the good guys from seeing that the world has moved on from the expected to the unexpected, for which we must prepare today.