"The most interesting British SF writer of ideas."--J.G. Ballard"Complex and brilliant."--Christopher Priest"Dizzying concepts--not just startling, but convincing and satisfying."--The TimesThe scriptwriter of Steven Spielberg's AI spins another subtle, daring, and brilliant tale about a very special child. When a young Russian boy disappears from a top-secret research establishment, and turns up in Tokyo, he presents a major problem for American security officials. The youth appears to be part of a sophisticated experiment--and to have the mind of a supposedly dead astronaut perfectly imprinted on his own. And, the boy claims the tests have been extended to a whale. As these strange events unfold, other cataclysmic events begin to occur a groundbreaking Nobel Prize winner proves that what we perceive as the universe is nothing more than a ghost of the real thing. Then the whales begin singing their death-mantra throughout the world's oceans.