It used to be California. In the year 2079 it's the earthquake-splintered shore of a nation divided by two decades of war with China, an uneasy Confederation of West and East Coasts. Once there was a great magician named Harry Houdini. Now a renegade psychic, Alphonse Sterling - who claims to be Houdini reborn - plans a spectacular orbital illusion that will provoke the West into secession. Only one man can stop Sterling: Ryan Arcad, a tortured alcoholic with fantastic psychokinetic powers. Powers that even he doesn't trust. Powers that could change the world. Now the struggle for control has a new and strange dimension.