A dangerous innovation leads to mischief, then mayhem, then murder and the brink of Doomsday: Hammond Hinkley has unlocked the secrets of the human soul by recreating the means by which the brain creates consciousness. He hopes that his invention will cure the world's ills and win him fame and adulation, but to fund his research he has to make a deal with a sinister organisation that thrives on conflict. Under pressure from his paymasters he uploads the contents of his own brain to the supercomputer in his lab, and spawns Hammond Flux, being that dwells in a dreamlike simulation.
Isolated in a virtual world designed to pander to his massive ego, Hammond Flux grows into a more sinister version of Hinkley, and soon he works out how to make his presence felt in the real world. Hinkley watches in horror has his alter ego moves from playful pranks to physical violence, and he is forced to confront the monster he has created before the world slips into the abyss.
This is a portrait of a soul immersed in the ultimate digital echo chamber, a world populated by demons and desires whose sole purpose is to gratify the ego. Hammond's story is poignant, funny and tragic, but the resilience of his essential humanity offers the possibility of redemption.
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