On February 8, 2029, computer systems across the world were attacked, apparently at random, by a virus program of unprecedented power . Systems crashed, their data wiped clean and even their hardware burned out by the effects of the virus . As the killer program spread, governments toppled and the world economy neared collapse . Only the Echo Mirage Project sponsored by the United States government was able to produce data-processing specialists able to directly engage the virus in cyberspace . By 2031, the last known concentrations of the virus code were purged from the world telecommunications system and only seven of the original thirty-two members of Echo Mirage lived to tell of it .