Earth is controlled by a powerful AI which rules over humanity, the AI has a "support staff" of humans, but all other humans live in relatively primitive conditions separated by their ancestry.
When humans return home from these "support staff" jobs, they take drugs to allow them to adapt to the less advanced food again, as well as forget most of what has happened.
Main character is one of these "support staff", he discovers that the AI can be controlled by a set of rings scattered across human controlled space and begins a mission to retrieve them.
After he discovers this, he and some other people are sent to a prison in the asteroid belt, which they eventually escape from.
First book ends with main characters stealing a spaceship from the mothballed earth fleet and heading off in search of more of these control rings.
There were no aliens in the first book.
Humanity outside of earth has been genetically altered to survive in diverse conditions.
I read it in paperback around 2015, but the book was fairly beat up at that point, so I'm guessing the book was at least early 2000s if not older.
When humans return home from these "support staff" jobs, they take drugs to allow them to adapt to the less advanced food again, as well as forget most of what has happened.
Main character is one of these "support staff", he discovers that the AI can be controlled by a set of rings scattered across human controlled space and begins a mission to retrieve them.
After he discovers this, he and some other people are sent to a prison in the asteroid belt, which they eventually escape from.
First book ends with main characters stealing a spaceship from the mothballed earth fleet and heading off in search of more of these control rings.
There were no aliens in the first book.
Humanity outside of earth has been genetically altered to survive in diverse conditions.
I read it in paperback around 2015, but the book was fairly beat up at that point, so I'm guessing the book was at least early 2000s if not older.
