'I am Zhang, alone with my light, and in that light I think for a moment that I
am free.' Imagine a world where Chinese Marxism has vanquished the values of cap
italism and Lenin is the prophet of choice. A cybernetic world where the new cha
rioteers are flyers, human-powered kites dancing in the skies over New York in a
brief grab at glory. A world where the opulence of Beijing marks a new cultural
imperialism, as wealthy urbanites flirt with interactive death in illegal speak
easies, and where Arctic research stations and communes on Mars are haunted by t
heir own fragile dangers.
