It's not that simple, of course. First you have to die. Grunge rock, bad acid, and an eighteen-wheeler will do that. Then you have to survive. Not too complicated, toward the century's end, for a neglected rich kid with guilt-ridden parents and cryogenics. Then there's the resurrection. That's more complex, involving runaway nanotechnology, a neutral interface in the brain, an asteroid named for Jerry Garcia, and a castle that needs cleaning. Hence, the mop.

Death for William Alec Tucker III is a gateway to the future, and a second chance to accomplish what he's left undone: which is just about everything. Life after death is almost pleasant. Until Alec finds out that he's a pawn in a systemwide struggle for power and embarks on an odyssey of discovery that takes him from the far reaches of the asteroid belt to the fleshpots of Clarke County, Space. And even father, to the beckoning stars.