In the late 21st century, Earth has been ravaged by climate change. Seeing it was time for decisive action, the billionaires bioengineered immortality, purchased the last habitable biospheres on the planet as their personal shares, and fled to Mars. For everyone left behind, life on a dying planet isn't easy. The lucky ones live in enclosed cities eating bug protein and saving up for passage to Mars. The rest of humanity exists as climate refugees passing through worlds that are perpetually on the brink of ecological collapse.

Ian Gateman, one of Earth's last bureaucrats, works on the settlement of ecological refugees while he, his wife, Anne, and their son, Alex, look forward to life on Mars. When Anne becomes terminally ill, she decides to upload her consciousness and live forever in Lotus: a corporate-run virtual reality simulation. To keep up with the monthly payments for Anne's digital residency and stop Lotus from deleting her consciousness, Ian takes on a special assignment. Tasked with finding a buyer for a fledgling colony of newly settled ecological refugees, Ian travels to the estates of several visiting immortals. As Ian tries to flog the colony to a brooding class of bored immortals, it becomes clear they have their own plans for humanity's future.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!