What would you do if you were rich, bright, vigorous, virtually immortal - and nearly bored to death? You'd invent a thrill sport...

It's the 23rd century and Nasir Deepra is 248 years old, wealthy, kept young by all-pervasive nanotechnology, a corporate executive and bored with life.

To spice things up he has become an Agonist, dipping into war zones - many of them in satellites orbiting the Earth - and filming his daredevil antics. Agonists have a large fan-base who watch them on the Net and they revel in the attention.

But when a war surf goes badly and the Agonists lose their top ranking amongst war surfers, they decide to up the ante and go to Heaven, a class 10 difficulty war zone (the toughest), in order to get back on top.

Nasir is reluctant to go since he's on the board of directors that controls Heaven and he knows why it's a class 10. His younger girlfriend, Sheeba, talks him into it and disaster strikes: Nasir and Sheeba are captured by workers who control Heaven.

Now, Nasir has to avoid the "disease" that runs rampant amongst Heaven's workers - and come to terms with the brutal exploitation he has been a part of.

2005 Philip K. Dick Award