Devil on My Back

Devil On My Back is a teenage science fiction dystopian novel by Canadian author Monica Hughes first published in 1984. It is the first book of the ArcOne Series and its sequel is The Dream Catcher.

Synopsis

In an ambiguous future time, the Earth has gone through an unnamed "Disaster" and subsequent "Age of Confusion." During this, a group of scientists build a great self controlled city called ArcOne to house the survivors and save all human knowledge. Knowledge has been regulated to devices called "info paks" which enable the wearer to tap into ArcOne's computer to access the information, but with a caveat: infopacks may be rejected by the wearer. Those who reject the infopacks become slaves, soldiers, or workers. Those who accept the infopaks become Lords of the City, and the effective ruling class.

Many generations later, the son of one of the leading Lords of the City, Tomi, is on his Access Day, the day when he first gets to receive his final infopack, and gain total access to ArcOne's computer. Two of his close friends reject the infopacks, and become a slave and a worker respectively. Sensing Tomi's discomfort with how his friends violently reacted against the infopacks, Tomi's teacher prescribes recreation at Dreamland, a fantasy computer program.

The next day, during a ceremony to honour the New Lords, the slaves rebel. Tomi is taken prisoner but manages to escape and hide in a garbage shute. However, when the soldiers arrive to gas his captors, Tomi loses consciousness and slides down the shute, emerging outside the City in a rapidly flowing river.

In the outside world, Tomi encounters a primitive community living in freedom, and is confronted with shocking truths about the world he left behind.