If I remember rightly, there were also fights going on within the tunnels also.
Not sure if same book, but people started off being "born" within virtual reality and had to prove themselves, before being born in to flesh and blood.
If I remember rightly, there were also fights going on within the tunnels also.
Not sure if same book, but people started off being "born" within virtual reality and had to prove themselves, before being born in to flesh and blood.
Greg Bear's Eon and sequels in The Way series? It involves an asteroid that mysteriously moves into Earth's orbit. The teams sent to explore it discover The Way, an infinitely long tunnel inside it. There's a way to open holes in the tunnel that lead to different worlds. And there's a city voyaging down the way, populated by humans, many of whom have uploaded their minds to the central computer. People are born in the computer, and can move themselves to physical bodies if desired.
There are human-human fights, and a hostile alien species, the Jart.
Check out The Corridors of Time by Paul Anderson. No VR that I recall, and the characters come out at different times rather than different planets, but definitely fights in & near the tunnels and their entrances. Summary at Wikipedia:
The Corridors of Time alternates between the European Stone Age and a repressive future. In its vision of tomorrow, almost everyone is either an agricultural serf or an industrial slave, but the rulers genuinely believe that they are creating a better world. Set largely in Denmark, it treats the Neolithic society with knowledge and respect but does not hide its own faults. It is there that the protagonist, having access to literally all periods of the past and future, finally decides to settle down and finds a happy and satisfying life.
Goodreads adds this about the the warring factions:
The corridors of time connect the ages to each other. Through them, one can travel backwards and forwards over the history of man. But rival factions have waged war for centuries.... Malcolm is an ordinary man of today, caught up in a time war beyond his comprehension....