Exiles at the Well of Souls
Jack L. Chalker
 Scientist Gilgram Zinder has finally decoded the ancient Markovian physics that controls our universe. Corrupt politician and drug dealer Antor Trelig is aware of Zinder's work through the efforts of Zinder's assistant, Ben Yulin. Trelig takes Zinder's daughter hostage and forces Zinder and Yulin to build a computer that can control the Markovian forces, like the dead Markovian computers that have been found on some planets. Zinder and Yulin construct "Obie", a sentient supercomputer, building it in Markovian fashion directly into Trelig's resort planetoid, New Pompeii. Mavra Chang, freighter pilot and agent, is hired to rescue Zinder and halt Trelig's plans of universal conquest. In the process Obie is activated and accidentally makes contact with the Well World. The Well World automatically transports everyone in contact with Obie down to the planet's surface. Mavra and Zinder are aboard a spacecraft when this occurs, and find themselves above the Well World. Flying over a "non-tech" hex, the Well World disables all of the technology on the ship and it crashes in the Southern Hemisphere. A war erupts on the Well World as the races of the nearby hexes race to collect all of the scattered pieces of the ship in order to escape the planet.