Somewhere, in earth's imagined future, two corporate city-states are pitted against each other in a struggle for power. Though the allusion is somewhat indirect, we are given to understand that this "somewhere" was once North America, possibly the United States. Now, with technology advanced almost beyond comprehension, the world as it existed in the twenty-first century is all but destroyed. Little record of it remains except on the bubble screen of old vids which Tristan, the mime, watches with interest and not a little longing for what he conceives as a paradise lost.

The cities, Kaze Glom and Flagg Glom, are cold places, barren and impersonal.

While clear description is lacking, the image of pale glass and steel high rises and canyon like streets devoid of energy or enthusiasm, comes to the reader's mind.

Fringing the cities is a no-man's-land, mouldering and dangerous, aptly named the jumble. Here...