The story so far:

The Story Begins

Cortland's story starts when he is working at Wieser Graphics, a small print shop run by a rather clueless and inept owner, Chad Wieser. When a consultant is brought in to replace all the Macintosh computers with cheap PCs, Cortland gets himself abruptly fired when he brings his own PowerBook to work and connects it to the network without permission. The plot thickens when Cortland visits the university Mac lab, overseen by Cortland's brother Corey, to help bring the outdated machines back online after a mysterious network failure. Three agents from Network Solutions storm into the lab and attack Cortland for interfering with their network. Cortland waylays them with a one-button "puck" mouse, but the Consultant enters brandishing a handgun. Cortland is saved when Todd arrives and uses his custom built Mac Plus Plus to attack the consultant with a virus sent through the university's wireless network. As a result, the consultant's flesh appears to melt away, revealing him to be a cyborg. A shadowy figure named IT enters the scene, destroys both the Consultant cyborg he created and the Mac Plus Plus with a wave of his hand, then vanishes in a puff of smoke.

Keenspace Years

The story continues in black and white as Todd gets his job back at Wieser Graphics (he was fired the same time as Cortland for no apparent reason) when Angie convinces Chad he's the only one who can restore the file server. Cortland works hard at his new position as a freelance designer and soon finds himself earning more money working with Bob Swanson, the lead sales rep for a large manufacturer who is now Wieser Graphics' biggest and only customer. This situation does not sit well with Chad, especially after he is forced to rehire Cortland as a contract employee to finish a job for Bob Swanson. Thrilled to hear Cortland will be returning, Todd shows Cortland to his latest invention: the iMaximum, a souped-up Mac built with parts from the now-destroyed Mac Plus Plus. When Cortland visits Wieser Graphics one Saturday, however, he discovers this machine is actually inhabited with the spirit of The Consultant. Todd had accidentally used a few memory chips from the consultant cyborg when building this new machine.

The MUDrix story

The iMaximum teleports Cortland into an online game world called the MUDrix, where he faces extremely powerful versions of the agents he faced in the Mac lab. He is befriends by another player (and admin) named Nat who guides him through the game world. During his various encounters in the MUDrix, Cortland finds that he can manipulate the code in the game world when provoked, typically when one of his enemies insults his father. Nat guides him to the Dark Castle where they are separated, and Cortland is severely wounded as he makes his way to the basement to face his final adversary: the Consultant. Battle-weary and exhausted, Cortland is no match for him, and he is tossed into a lake of fire that consumes him completely. He is reborn in the fire, however, when his physical form becomes part of the code itself, and he rebuilds his body and then proceeds to absorb the consultant and remake him in his own image. The shadowy figure IT returns at this point to eject Cortland from the MUDrix, but a converted Consultant rips off his mask and reveals him to be none other than Steve, the iCEO himself. Steve tells Cortland that his father once worked for Apple and had invented an operating system so advanced that it would never need to be upgraded. Naturally, Steve had to put an end to it by returning to take control of Apple. What Steve wanted with Terry Cortland is unclear, other than that he had hoped either to turn Cortland to his side or destroy him. Steve causes the MUDrix to self-destruct, but Cortland escapes just as the game world dissolves into scrambled binary code.

Back in Action

Upon leaving the MUDrix, Cortland takes Angie and Todd to a luncheon where he learns that Todd used to work for Nemesis Design, the biggest design studio in town. Cortland and his friends also learn that Chad plans to sell Wieser Graphics, but Todd has plans to start his own software company by creating easy-to-use versions of powerful open-source programs. Cortland's dad gives Todd a major boost when he gives him the unreleased beta version of his operating system, and Todd develops this system and some open-source software into a powerful suite to compete with Microsoft, Adobe, and all of silicon valley. Meanwhile, the villains from the MUDrix find a new ally named Dr. Warlock, a big shot from Adobe. He helps Lord Fate resurrect The Lisa, which was actually a deadly cyborg that Apple buried in a Utah landfill in the late 1980s.

Chad's troubles mount as he discovers that he accidentally sold his company to Nemesis Design. Its current owner, Silvio, used to be an art director at Wieser Graphics, but quit to form his own company after a bitter dispute. Now back in power, he promptly decides to push Chad out of the company in order to pay for fancy new equipment for the struggling business.

My dinner with Angie

One fateful night, Cortland goes on a date with Angie and winds up alone with her at Wieser Graphics. After successfully recovering all her files after a system crash, she kisses him for the first time. Meanwhile, Lord Fate activates the Lisa cyborg, which promptly goes insane, throwing Agent Ira out the window and pummeling Lord Fate with a sledgehammer.

At Wieser Graphics, Cortland and Angie find their make-out session interrupted when Silvio and his lackeys return for a late-night visit. Using a hidden web camera, Cortland eavesdrops on their conversation and learned that Silvio plans to burn down the building to collect on the insurance. Silvio discovers Cortland and Angie in the back room, but thanks to some help from the iMaximum, they're able to escape.

Unfortunately, Cortland and Angie meet up with the Lisa cyborg outside. It takes quick work of the two with a sledgehammer and then takes Silvio apart quite literally when he tries to control her with an iPod. As the evil machine tries its own mind control on Angie, Cortland springs to life and stops the Lisa, but only long enough for Steve/IT to show up and stop both of them. He reveals that he is Lisa's "father," and the two advance on Cortland to take care of him once and for all, but they get stopped by a new character: the long-forgotten Steve "Woz" Wozniak, who is able to render the Lisa useless with a "Captain Crunch" whistle. IT/Steve vows revenge and flees, while Terry resuscitates an unconscious Angie with a little mouth-to-mouth. The police arrive to clear everything up, and they take Silvio into custody for his conspiracy to commit arson, putting Chad Wieser back in charge of the company. Likewise, the IRS agent Ira steps up as the new Lord Fate and leader of the super-villains as the Lisa begins her process of recuperation and the rest of the villains crew plot their next diabolical scheme.