“On the far side of the universe, millions of light years from Earth, a pilot manoeuvred a heavily armoured, single-seat spacecraft into position. The craft was at the head of a small squadron of similar fighting vessels and was leading them on a mission that would affect civilisations across the universe. If they succeeded, the major civilisations could carry on living in relative peace. If they failed… the pilot didn’t know the full consequences, only that they would be bad—very bad, indeed.
But he didn’t want to dwell on failure. Instead, he let his mind wander briefly over the astonishing adventure that had led him, thirteen-year-old Jack Smart of Epsom, planet Earth, to be leading such a vital mission. He remembered how it had all started….”
When Jack Smart stumbled across the intergalactic internet, the Universe Wide Web, little did he realise what adventures and dangers lay ahead.
The Universe Wide Web (or uniweb) differs from World Wide Web; it’s an actual place, somewhere out there in the ether that you enter for real. And you can also use it to click, and travel, instantaneously, to anywhere else in the universe. The uniweb has web-rooms, chat rooms, web-games, trading sites; it’s a huge, labyrinthine place full of alien creatures, and strange technologies and ideas. It has millions of users – creatures from all over the universe; though only one person from earth has ever logged on.
Jack discovers that his deceased father, an astro-physicist, was not only the first earth based user of the Universe Wide Web, but also worked on its technology design, and held the security code that is at its core. This code holds the key to controlling the uniweb. This importance of this security code is such that it brings with it danger from many unscrupulous creatures trying to steal it. Jack is drawn into a series of adventures and encounters as creatures try to discover whether Jack knows what his father knew.
His life is in danger. Who will help him?
Along the way Jack has to learn to use the mind-browser – the interface to the Universe Wide Web that taps into your conscious. He also learns how to use uniweb apps, such as the stealth app that lets the user move invisibly, or apps that bring avatars to life. He also plays online games – virtual games the players take part in for real.
These adventures and encounters – some dangerous, all strange – take Jack onto the uniweb and to planets in the far corner of the universe. This eventually culminates in a battle to save the uniweb from pirate take-over – and only Jack has the means to save the Universe Wide Web.
The Universe Wide Web 