cover illustration : minette fallon dedicated to stephen swisher and rose kaszycki table of contents preface book 1 the fraud book 2 planned obsolescence book 3 beta and the void book 4 expedition book 5 the center of the earth book 6 patch book 7 beta 's war book 8 things fall apart book 9 the center can not hold book 10 jennifer 's war book 11 contracts and prenuptials book 12 realignment book 13 emergence epilogue excerpt from third eye patch part 2 preface before there was an internet or othernet , there was the nous .