The Psyman

In the world of the future, society is divided into Gobblers, the ordinary, oxygen-addled and fame-addicted citizens, and the Sharps, the ruling elite who live in an enclosed, secret city called the Bastion, where they imbibe a high carbon dioxide atmosphere.The Gobblers are only required to work 15 hours per week, mostly in surveillance, and they spend their spare time watching and interacting with YouStar in their Cocoons. This is a continuous program in which ten people are selected from the populace to become 'famous' for the next month. YouStar is the only kind of fame allowed - except for that enjoyed by Joe, the undisputed, unelected and apparently ageless Leader.The Psyman traces the lives of three friends, Biz, Necker and Bock, and their teacher Gneiss, in the years immediately after the trio finish school.We join Bock as she experiences the highs, lows and stresses of a month in the Fame House on YouStar and then reluctantly enters a life of drudgery and YouStar immersion.We go with Necker as he enlists in the army and heads off to prosecute the 'pesky war in the east' only to find that fighting has been replaced by endless rounds of football matches, which are reported as real battles. The game itself has been renamed Battle for the purposes of propaganda. Necker finds out the hard way that there is only one way to keep the secret that the war in the east is not really a war.The main focus, however, is on Biz. While still at school, testing reveals that he is a potential Sharp, so he is inducted into the Bastion under the tutelage of his mentor, Knead. It becomes clear that there is something different about Biz as he struggles to keep up with his new peers in the Bastion. He perseveres and makes his way in conflict spin, and learns about how the Bastion works.Later we find out that Biz has become a Sharp under somewhat false pretences. His teacher Gneiss secretly dosed him with carbon dioxide to alter his test scores, and the teacher, it seems has an agenda. He wants to reduce the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere so that ordinary people can reclaim their minds and their freedom.When Biz finds this out he is enraged at the manipulation to which he has been subjected, and mortified to find that Gneiss and Bock are in a relationship. In spite of his anger, and seeing a potential benefit for himself, Biz promises to consider Gneiss’s plan, and to that end covertly interrogates Particle, the atmospheric engineer, as to how it all works and what might be done to reverse the oxygen imbalance.When Bock dies in an accident, the promise that Biz has made to protect the Gardeners - the secret society in which Gneiss is involved - becomes void. In a climactic scene in the citiburbs at Bock’s funeral, Biz has the Gardeners violently arrested and sent on the Freedom Ride. He returns to the Bastion a hero, but must also face some questions about his actions. The story ends with one final twist for Biz, and leaves the reader wondering - does this mean he will or won’t carry out the Gardeners’ ambitious plan for his own ends?