A science fiction novel of a world in which “wireheading“ (direct stimulation of the pleasure centers of the brain) has become not only a reality, but a common social vice -- and a man‘s mind may no longer truly be his own. Two very different men seek explanations and justice for the harm or loss of those they love, in a pair of parallel stories which eventually dovetail into a truly surprising ending. Spider Robinson‘s deft hand weaves these stories together with a cast of compelling characters and a great deal of societal insight into the implications of a technology he makes as real for the reader as for the fictional characters who must live with its consequences, portraying a believable set of individual and societal responses to a technology whose development seems almost inevitable.