Plot Summaries (The Unremembered Gate)
One-Sentence Summary
A haunted scholar and a ruthless mercenary team up to prevent a cataclysmic virus unleashed by an ancient text.
One-Paragraph Summary
In a world dominated by megacities and controlled by AI-driven corporations, an ancient text is discovered that seems to reshape our understanding of linguistic -- and human -- development. This find is made by a naive but rebellious scholar who soon teams up with a ruthless bounty hunter sent to steal the discovery. Before they can learn its secrets, the text unleashes a virus that strips humans of their ability to process language. While the megacorporations bid for control of the text -- claiming to find cure, but hoping for more power -- the duo, assisted by a member of a mythical hacking collective known as the Low Gods, realize that the text is also a transmitter, signaling its alien creators to invade. Racing against time, the expanding team attempt to stop the pandemic and the invasion through sacrifice and metamorphosis.
One-Page Summary
In a world dominated by megacities and controlled by AGI-driven megacorporations, most humans, implanted with cybernetic Weak AIs known as Spryts, live within a global society in which they work to improve their social standing. Darius Caxton is a naive but rebellious linguistics scholar, and Jael Todorov is a ruthless bounty hunter. When Darius is hired by ElCorp, the company that dominates his home city of Denver, to find Hassan Maldonado, an old friend who has gone missing while on an archeological dig, he finds his friend in an almost comatose state and discovers a table containing an ancient text that, if real, suggests a radical alteration of our understanding of linguistic -- and human -- development. Meanwhile, Jael has been hired by the TS Group, a rival corporation, to recover the text. Before Jael can accomplish her mission, though, they are besieged by a strike force sent by yet another megacorporation. Hassan is killed, and Darius and Jael reluctantly team up to save themselves and the tablet.
While on the run from competing forces, Darius and Jael realize that reports of a rapidly spreading global pandemic that causes humans to lose the ability to process language are linked to the tablet, which tells the story of a stranger who is mistreated his hosts. Eventually they discover that the virus is being spread not from human to human but through the computer systems that Darius is using to analyze the text. Darius is contacted by M3747r0n, a mysterious friend from the past who is a member of the hacker collective known as the Low Gods. The Low Gods, believed by many to be an urban legend, are individuals who have transferred their consciousnesses into the global network while their bodies remain hidden on life support. Just as contact is made, Jael's ship is shot down and the tablet is destroyed.
The pair are rescued by a group of the Unseen, people who live in the wastelands between the megacities and who no longer engage with technology. While the virus spreads through the global network, the megacorporations vie for possession of Darius's digital scan of the tablet -- all claiming to want to find cure, but hoping for more power. Reluctantly, Darius, committed to saving as many people as possible, has discovered that he is immune to the virus because he had long ago rooted his Spryt. He agrees to deliver the text to ElCorp, believing them to be in the best position to stop the pandemic and to do the least damage. Inside the massive corporate headquarters, Jael discovers that Darius and M3747r0n have rooted her Spryt, giving her extraordinary control and abilities. As a result, she intercepts information that the corporate leaders plan on killing Darius to steal his knowledge of the ancient text. After a risky escape, Jael destroys the headquarters of ElCorp, wiping out their AGI, along with a significant portion of the megacity of Denver.
Following their escape, the team attempts to stop the pandemic while fleeing from the authorities. While on the run, Jael revels in her new abilities that far exceed anything Darius has been willing to attempt. She also realizes she is no longer burned by the social restrictions that she had so long struggled against. Darius, angry at the betrayal of the leaders of ElCorp and his own naivety, untangles the puzzle contained within the story, but is frustrated that the answer offers no solution to the virus. Darius's discovery leads to his telling of the story of how he met M3747r0n, which leads to a realization that he and he alone can offer the Low Gods the information they need to break the virus's code. Before he can contact M3747r0n to share his discovery, their hiding place is attacked and they are forced once again on the run.
Retreating to the one place Darius imagines the megacorporations cannot find them -- M3747r0n's secure bunker -- Darius explains that the Low Gods are the only ones who can determine a cure for the virus, but only if he joins the collective to share with them his unique understanding of the language the text is written in. Because the Low Gods can only have 121 members, for Darius to join, an existing Low God must disconnect. M3747r0n agrees to separate himself from the collective even though it means bodily death will shortly follow. Jael tries to dissuade them of the plan, but eventually M3747r0n and Darius convince her it is the only option. After the switch, the Low Gods are able to quickly develop the code that can act as a virucide to destroy the virus. However, those affected by it already cannot be cured. Darius, overwhelmed by the freedom he feels within the digital collective, takes the name 3L3L37h, as Jael cradles Me747r0n's dying body.
Five-Page Summary
(Expand the one-page plot synopsis of the novel to a four-page synopsis. Basically, you will again be expanding each paragraph from step (4) into a full page.)
