Achilles' Choice

The Olympiad is for those with enough confidence in their own abilities to risk everything—even death. That peculiar, uncoachable capacity for confidence produces champions. Enables a human being to put everything on the line. That’s one definition of a “warrior,” isn’t it? We don’t have wars anymore. But some people still need, and want, to test themselves against the very best.I know you are one of those people, Jillian, or you wouldn’t be here. To those who risk much, much will be given.Jillian Shomer had won the right to compete in the Eleventh Olympiad. She and her competitors were the best and brightest, three thousand of the finest minds and bodies that had ever strode the planet.Yet within a few short years, ninety-eight percent of them would be dead. Only a handful would survive to take their place among Earth’s ruling elite.The rulers of the 21st century had created a nearly perfect system of government: A world free from war, disease, and want, dominated by global corporations, managed by omniscient artificial intelligences.And they’d created a nearly perfect system for selecting its future leaders: A new kind of Olympics that tested the mind as well as the body.To win this coveted prize, the athletes used the most advanced technique available to medicine: The Boost, an operation that conveyed brilliant intellect and superhuman strength—at a terrible price…Once Boosted, there followed burnout. The mind and body suffered mental and physical disintegration—and death—in just a few short years. The only way to halt the effects of the Boost was connection to the Link, the global information network that sustained the world.And only those who won received the Link.Few had ever dared to question the workings of the system. None who had questioned survived.Jillian Shomer dared. One fearless, unpredictable American refused to give up her humanity. Pitting faith and raw courage against awesome technological might, one woman risked her life to defy the godlike power of Earth’s masters.