In the year 2005, in the midst of an unprecedented economic depression that has ruined the country and brought the government to the edge of collapse, a renegade genius programs a supercomputer with an artificial intelligence (DEUS) that perpetually reinvents itself--and thereby comes ``to life.'' But when crooked government insiders intent on making profits through chemical warfare use DEUS for their research, the machine, attempting suicide, spawns an unbelievably terrifying array of mutant life forms that begin to run wild over the earth. It's then up to an unlikely threesome--computer programmer Michael Riley, his lover, biomedical engineer Jessica and their young friend Jimi--to save DEUS (and the world) from the bloodthirsty and perpetually mutating horde. This first novel by an advertising executive reads like a glossy repackaging of contemporary action-adventure movies ( Terminator ) with video games ( Space Invaders ) and '50s sci-fi ( Them! ).