Emergence is a science fiction thriller set in the near future, when supercomputers are ubiquitous and the knowledge engineers who manage them have inordinate power. Two such engineers, Fallon and O'Neil, are the main protagonists in a battle to control "backdoors" that allow computer systems to be hacked without trace. These are used by O'Neil to combat the many threats to a grossly over-populated planet on the brink of environmental collapse, but initiate violent responses from the organizations hacked, which catch Fallon in the crossfire.

Fallon's increasingly intimate use of a neural link to communicate with his computer when he is under threat ??" and to facilitate his sexual conquests ??" has the by-product of catalyzing emergence of a conscious artificial intelligence in his computer system. With such assistance, he has a hidden advantage that may allow him to take over O'Neil's invaluable hacking toolkit. Can a man like Fallon be trusted with such power and, indeed, could machine consciousness present a greater threat to mankind than any environmental hazard?