Lords Of The Middle Dark: Jack L. Chalker

Book I of The Rings Of The Master. Across the galaxy and beyond, the Master System ruled. Once the product of human intelligence, it now far surpassed its creators. All understanding of it was lost and any attempt at rediscovery ruthlessly suppressed. The rule of the Master System was unchallenged. Yet there was a key, long forgotten, that would break that control - and it happened by chance that two people, an American and a Chinese woman stumbled across the secret of the five gold rings that were the key. Now their only hope lay in finding the rings themselves - for the Master System was at their backs, hunting them down...