PROLOGUE
It was once a sprawling flatland, dominated by fruit tree orchards and nestled safely between protective hills.
This tranquil scene slowly vanished as trees were felled, concrete poured, and new seeds planted, each the size of a large beetle and filled with thousands of microscopic circuits, sown by a new breed of farmer, with dreams of growing the future.
The new electronic produce, capable of performing millions of calculations in the blink of an eye, was harvested.
The new technology farmland: Silicon Valley.
Viewed from high above, the Valley looks like a schematic drawing of the very seeds from which it has grown, thousands of technology orchards, connected by the roads and highways etched into the golden surface of the land.