Escape From the Future: The Clown Caper

Less than forty years into the future, most of mankind has elected to upload themselves to digital nirvana, where they can live as many lives as they care to in parallel, in as many different fantasy worlds as they desire. A small percentage of humans, however, are loath to give up the mortal coil. These last holdouts are the escapees from the future. The question is, for how long? Will Mother, the sentient internet, be content with gentle prodding to upgrade and uplift? Or will she resort to more coercive means? Has she already, unbeknownst to the final holdouts?