"Orf is a sentient drilling machine, designed to probe the very center of the Earth. But the world around him is changing, transformed by cataclysmic earthquakes and cultural upheavals. The Pacific Northwest secedes from the United States, becoming a matriarchal ecotopia...for a time. Civilization collapses, and bizarre new societies rise from the remains of the old. Humanity encounters strange new beings and states of being, from both within the Earth and beyond, until human life itself is changed almost beyond recognition." "Now Orf must change as well, becoming both myth and monster, savior and sage, to future generations of humanity."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved