A terrifying novel, from one of our foremost scientific visionaries. Susan Greenfield asks: how will today's technology affect the future of our species?

It is many years since the human race gave up its individuality. Our world is now a place of technicolour, mechanical beauty. Iridescent domes sit upon the ruins of the previous civilization, and small figures wander constantly between them - dancing, singing, running, but never touching. Each of us is immersed in our own virtual reality. We are like children, living in a perpetual summer: ageless, beautiful, and utterly reliant on the lost knowledge of another age. For decades, nothing disturbed our peaceful equilibrium. Until Fred arrived. Until he took one of us from among from us and made her different. Until he showed us what our world was made of...