At the start of the Possessor Wars series, Jeff Bowman is an ordinary 14 year old who lives in an arcology in the year 2715.
What is an arcology? From The History of the World of Tomorrow:
Arcologies
Arcologies are huge buildings that form mostly self-contained cities. Each archology has its own Governing Council. However, because arcologies are 3000 stories high (more than 9 miles!), they are also divided into sectors. Every sector has 100 floors. There are 30 sectors in an arcology. Each sector has a Sector Council that acts very much like a city council does in our time.
There are an average of 2000 people living on every floor of an arcology. The lower floors actually contain more people than that. But because the upper floors contain fewer people (the people up there can afford larger apartments), the average number of people living on a floor is 2000. That means that the arcology contains 3000 stories with 2000 people per story. That works out to 6 million people!
So an arcology (which is a mix of the words "architecture" and "ecology" in Jeff's world is basically a big cylindrical building that's a mile in diameter and 3000 stories tall. In Jeff Bowman's time, they're common and a lot of people live in them in order to save space.
The arcology that Jeff lives in isn't extraordinary in any way. It's just one arcology among many in America at the time. People in arcologies are literally stratified. That means they live in layers. Richer people live near the top and the poorer folks live lower down. The people at the bottom are living just barely above subsistence level. Those who can't make ends meet in the lowest parts of the arcology end up Outside. And Outside is not a place anyone wants to be.
Jeff lives in the lowest section of the arcology of what's considered "middle class" income earners. His family isn't poor, but they're not very comfortable either. Most people in his sector get by, but not much more. If there are people in his sector that are more prosperous, they usually move up fast.
Unlike the main character is many stories, Jeff is not a natural superhero. He's just an ordinary guy who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances. His only choices are to rise to the challenge or get crushed by the universe. In that respect, he's like all of us.
The three main characters in the series, Jeff, Akio, and Harriet, have been friends since they were all little. They've picked up a lot of other friends along the way. But to each of them, the other two are the best friends they have. This friendship is what keeps them going as the challenges of The Possessor Wars unfold.
At the start of the series, Jeff, Akio, and Harriet are 14. Jeff's life has largely been shaped by the tragic loss of his mother. Jeff's father, Kent, convinced Jeff's mother to leave the arcology for the first time in her life. The two of them went on a vacation to the Moon. However, while they were taking a seemingly innocuous spin in a moonbuggy (a common activity for tourists), a mysterious accident occurred and Jeff's mother was killed. For many years, Kent blamed himself for that. And the resulting guilt and remorse he felt strongly influenced the relationship that Kent and Jeff had at the start of the series.
Like a lot of guys his age (even today), Jeff is interested in techie stuff. He likes robots and has learned to fix them. He likes computer programming and is pretty good at it. He likes surfing too, but it's not really what he's best at. He mostly does it because Akio likes it.
Jeff doesn't always follow the rules. At the start of The Boy Who Fell into the Sky, we find Jeff helping Hugh Benson by getting his stolen dogbot back. But Jeff is sitting in school when he's doing it and is supposed to be working on his homework.
Also, Jeff has been building a secret farm in the rafters of the dome that covers the park on the top of his arcology. If anyone found out, he and his family would probably get kicked out. But not only is the "farm" he and his friends have created essential to them moving up in the world, for some in his group it's the key to survival. So it's understandable that they might bend the rules in ways that help others and don't hurt anybody.
Why is the park on top of the arcology covered by a clear dome? If you think about it, the answer's pretty clear. The arcology is 3000 stories high. Each story is at least 15 feet tall. That means the arcology is at least 45,000 feet tall. But in reality, the arcology is taller because many levels, such as the train station on level 1500, art taller than 15 feet high. Arcologies in Jeff's time are about 10 miles high. That's up where jet airplanes fly. And at that altitude, the low temperature and the low air pressure would kill almost any living thing. So the park has a dome on the top to protect it.
Like anybody, Jeff gets himself into trouble once in a while. He sometimes makes decisions that are probably not the best. But I think pretty much all of us have had experience with that.
But basically Jeff tries to do his best with what life hands him. And in that respect, he's like most of us.
Chad
The Possessor Wars
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