The Virtues of Destruction

Dr. Bernard Lemnus, Jr. has always known he was meant for great things. To his utter surprise, he achieves them with the invention of a marvelous new compound, aerosolvent-q, a nearly universal solvent. But, starved for his own success, he rushes the testing process and misses a fatal flaw-under certain conditions it is highly explosive. Allegations roll in, authorities are a hair away, and propelled by a mixture of pride, fear and maniac impulse he decides to stage the death of Dr. Lemnus and build from the wreckage of the old life a new, whole person he might inhabit. But reconstructing himself is more costly than he expects. In a daze of guilt, panic and grief, Dr. Lemnus wanders the City's tangled neighbourhoods-Stardale, Blacktrack, On-The-North, the Floating Bazaar-trying to find the person he might be, the person he might always have been.