Patrick Honor was possessed by PPS, Psychic Power Sources, which led him, even though he could not understand them. Beyond understanding was feeling; beyond feeling was knowing. Patrick Honor knew only that he had to go on. He had to explore the unknown, to escape his body, to travel to the root octave of the Ninth Parallex. And he had to find Octavia, the unearthly beauty who beckoned him from another world. There was so much to learn. What was the real power source? Was it sex, or science, or..love? What was the meaning of the number nine? Why was the President of United States going to die on June 15, 1975? Eighty-one days, exactly, after Patrick Honor's death!