Plot Summary

The shape of planet Earth is not perfectly spherical. It rather looks like a potato. Climate scientist Phoebe Phaidon starts with a teaching contract at the Institute for Cybernetics at Berlin University to take over the seminar 'Introduction to Simulation Studies' of Brenda Berger, head of the institute. Brenda needs to attend to her externally funded project - a virtual simulation of climate change - in hopes of preventing the threatened shutdown of her institute by the university board. Everything depends on a successful evaluation at the end of the semester. Phoebe is obliged to work on the simulation, and a corporate consultant is hired as a motivational coach for the institute's employees. Meanwhile, endowed professor Alfons Abstract-Wege gains attention with a project on nutrition control: nudging becomes the magic word. Phoebe's students suspect a corporate interest at play behind Abract-Wege's research and disrupt daily operations by occupying the university's library. Phoebe travels to a conference in Gdansk, Poland with her colleague Julius Kelp to decipher the secret behind the looming apocalypse. Time is running out. Judgement Day is dawning.