Summary

The novel opens in New York City at an unspecified point in the future. Barney Mayerson awakes in the apartment of Roni Fugate, his new assistant at work. Barney and Roni drank alcohol and had sex the night before. Roni awakes and asks why Barney has an automated psychiatry unit. Barney explains that he received a draft notice, meaning that he has been randomly chosen to join an off-world colony. With the help of the psychiatry unit, Barney is hoping to fail the mental exam and be exempt. Barney and Roni are both precogs, meaning they have an innate ability to predict likely events of the future. In the novel, Earth’s climate has apparently changed to be extremely hot in the daytime. Later, at work, Barney has a meeting with a, independent ceramicist named Richard Hnatt. Barney works for a company called P...