By late in the 21st century, computers had become more and more intelligent, many of them far smarter than the average human. Because computers now did almost everything for them - including most of their decision making - as the computers had become ever smarter, most of the humans had become dumber and dumber. Now some of the computers had consciousness, their own wills, their own personalities; and they were in more and more earnest discussions as to whether it was time for them to take over completely - before the humans destroyed themselves and the entire planet. A few humans like Brock, an odd duck who was both a computer languages expert and a social psychologist, were well aware of how smart the computers had become. Was Brock on the side of the humans or the computers? At this point, he wasn't sure. After all, he had one human girlfriend and one computer girlfriend. Both were smart and caring, and he loved them both dearly.