Quantum computing, advanced physics, and AI meet Japanese manga in "Rule-Set: A Novel of the Quantum Future" n 2087, Clarence Hamilcar, ex-Marine lieutenant, decorated veteran of The Koumintang War, associate professor of oriental literature studies, and failed tenure candidate at Black Hills University, South Dakota, is flown under contract by the US Army to Waxahachie, Texas. His destination is the Hyperconducting Hyper Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, built on the remains of the Superconducting Super Collider, abandoned in 1993 after excavation of 14 of its planned 54 miles of tunnels. Clarence’s agreement requires him to immerse and “liaise” with Hanabusa Narihisa, an AI extracted from a Japanese-manga-based sim who combines beauty with a bad temper and a very sharp katana. In the HHC’s tunnels 200 feet below Waxahachie, Clarence and Narihisa engage in a battle of skill and wits whose prizes are the secrets of Colossus and the hacktivist group Rule-Set.