“In a distant corner of the universe, amidst a swirl of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen circulating a red dwarf star, an explosion sent a sudden shaft of light shooting out and hurtling across the emptiness of space. And in that far-away void the name “Jack” could have been heard, if anyone had been there to listen.”
This book, the second in the series, takes place a few months after the first. Jack is now a seasoned uni-web user; he is finding that it has very positive benefits for normal life on earth. We find him using the uni-web to help with a homework project on the destruction of the rain-forests – he has simply “clicked” to go and visit the Amazon jungle as research for his project.
Jack is getting to know more new characters online. He meets a new friend in a uni-web chat-room. Jack doesn’t know much about her, but she seems friendly enough, and he enjoys sharing music with her, despite her annoying habit of asking him questions all the time.
He also has a visit at home from two of the characters he has met on the web; Game-Seer, an eccentric, very intelligent bat like creature who has built a new web simulation game, and Eyes a large hawk-like creature. Jack isn’t really sure of their motivation for coming to see him, particularly when they cause an incident over Big Ben in London.
The uni-web starts to experience technical problems. This problem causes Jack considerable inconvenience, not to mention pain; but he has to help the technical team to try and solve the problem.
At the same time he discovers that his school friend Nick has gone missing – somehow Nick has found a way to get onto the uni-web, but has got trapped on a web-site.
Jack begins searching for Nick. This takes him into many of the less desirable places on the web, and a number of unpleasant encounters. He also has to venture onto far away planets as he tries to piece together what has happened to Nick.
Jack now has to deal with looking for Nick, whilst also helping to solve the uni-web’s technical problems. The problem is far more dangerous than first thought – it’s a virus that puts the uni-web itself in peril.
Jack has to endure being held hostage, death threats, blackmail, and many other hazards of surfing the uniweb. Can he find Nick; can he save the uni-web? Time is running out…
The Universe Wide Web 