In the near future, the human race has abandoned a decimated Earth and colonized nearby asteroids, planets, and moons in the Orion-Cygnus arm in service to Mechoben, The Second Messiah of Machinaity and CEO of The Corporation. Desperate for leadership in an unforgiving universe, his devoted followers blindly accept indentured servitude in Venusian work camps, Martian entertainment studios, and asteroid mines. But The Corporation’s promises obscure the truth – that control is maintained by means of a mysterious alien lifeform dubbed MOTHER.