In the far distant future, humanity has created a glittering interstellar empire, where need and sickness are unknown. All is made possible by advanced technology - bioengineering and nano-machines, virtual reality and the harnessing of the force of gravity.But not everyone can handle all this high tech. Not every person is capable of mastering the arts of programming on the fly in the virtual world, or manipulating the microscopic matter of biotech and nanotech. For most people, the idea of being in more than two places at once is more than a little disorienting.So a special kind of human has evolved - men and women who can handle both the virtual world and the realized world. Who can do two and more things at once, who are smarter and more creative than average. They are the Aristoi, the Best, and as in Plato's vision, they have the care of the Demos, the people, foremost in their minds. The Aristoi control technology and all its fruits. They terraform planets, and when they are done, they choose the people who can emigrate to the new world. They are the absolute rulers of their spheres of creation, but they are benevolent rulers.What can trouble Paradise? The answer is an Aristos gone mad. An Aristos so committed to a genetic theory that he makes a whole world in secret, cut off from the Hyperlogos that records all knowledge and all actions, in order to test his theories. And who will kill to keep his secret safe. Read Less