ISBN 0-7126-53473, 0-7126-98701 (UK trade pbk)

"Late twenty-first century -- a time when bioengineering means that people can modify their minds in any way they wish; an era also shaped by information systems so vast that security, in any form, can easily be breached. Be what you want to be, but don't expect the world, your life, to become any less uncertain. And for thirty-three years, humanity has lived with the religious cults and terrorism spawned by fear of the unknown. One night the stars went out; everything disappeared from the sky. 'The Bubble' -- a perfect sphere centred on the sun -- has isolated the solar system. Humanity has been cut off. Quarantined.

"Late twenty-first century -- a time when scientific research is reaching for ultimates, when experimentation starts to break down the walls of everyday reality. The scientists have no concept of the awesome force they play with. Of how close they dance to the edge...' [jacket blurb, UK trade pbk, 1992]