John Harrington is one of the few true

genius entrepreneurs in the computer world.

But he is draining his company s resources on

a project that his contemporaries consider

folly: artificial intelligence. He is obsessed

with the idea of creating a machine that can

think for itself, that can feel, that can, per-

haps, even love. If he can create that ultimate

computer, he will not only save his own com-

pany, he will revolutionize the industry and,

in a very real way, change the world.

He hires Linda Woods--a brilliant psychol-

ogist-to help teach his computer, named

ARIEL, to learn in the same way a child does.

Like parents, Harrington and Linda teach

and nurture ARIEL, always striving to

prompt her to think for herself: to "wake up."

Working under enormous pressure, knowing

that every day Drum Labs gets closer to bank-

ruptcy, their mutual respect, and love, grows.

They don t know that, late at night, when

the lab is closed, Harrington s son Rusty--a

freckle-faced whiz kid who can handle a

floppy disk better than a baseball bat--turns

on his home computer, plugs into the tele-

phone wires, and calls ARIEL. For months

he has been trying to get her to answer back.

Then, late one night.., she does.

It is the breakthrough they have all been

praying for. But ARIEL is being watched by

sinister forces all too aware that Harrington is

not a mad inventor. From as far away as

Japan, and as close as an office inside the lab,

ARIEL s secrets are threatened until, finally,

only Rusty stands between ARIEL s life and

her destruction.