"I have only the life they give me. What else is there?" "Change," she said, not willing to concede. "A new world without their sickness at its heart." He smiled, but there was no mirth in it. "There is but one world. It is a room with no windows. No doors. And you would pull the ceiling down with you still inside." "If that's what it takes. Yes." "Then either way, you lose." Progress always has a price. And in the wake of colonizing and incorporating the solar system, Earth has been left a loosely aligned planet of third world territories and corrupt city-states. A home to the forgotten. Here an unlikely terrorist has fled to the ancient city of Tokyo, trying desperately to avoid her pursuers in her search for safe passage offworld, and maybe even back to her family on Mars. But in a derelict hotel at the heart of the city's most dangerous district, she and a handful of strangers are about to collide-unwittingly cast as central players in a much larger game. One that will spark a fire the whole system will see. Together they will attempt to navigate the course of a single, portentous day, finding a little piece of one another amidst the frantic struggle to survive. And before it's all over, each in time will be forced to answer the same question. . . What are you willing to give to get that which you most desire?
