内容简介：
Book Two in the Masat Trilogy: Oh, god, Paul Chandler thought as he cradled his head between his hands and stared at the display. It depicted a halogram view of the Earth below. So peaceful, so tiny, so easy to deal with from up here. He began to rub his temples as he remembered how uncomplicated life used to be, just a few short days ago. All that he had wanted to do then was to make that stupid car payment. Just a stupid car payment Now, they expected him to Travel-to transport from one place to the other, without moving. Well, he reflected, his world had certainly changed in these last few days. In fact, it had expanded beyond just his world, he told himself. It now included the entire galaxy-or . . . not-if there was any way he could prevent it. They were the descendants of the Emperor whose madness was allowed to foment. They were the result of appetites and passions that were allowed free rein, of psychosis that was encouraged to percolate, to bubble and develop. They were the hidden rulers over the generations. They called themselves the Shapers and they watched, studied and controlled those whose lifetimes had been genetically reduced by a factor of ten and now they were ready to start. Thousands of years had passed since the Emperor founded this planet, but in all those years, the plan had remained the same. The experiment had been completed generations ago, but the thrill of the design, of the shape of the outcome, and ultimately of the bet, prolonged its implementation. Now, the satellites were in place, the nations were set to hair-trigger and the globe-ships would soon arrive . . . and, they would put it off no longer.