CaptainCraboo

Five months after Scotland’s Independence Referendum, freelance journalist Willie Morton discovers he has a look-alike who works for pro-Union group, GB13, which aims to prevent Scotland leaving the Union. Morton wants to discover how far they are willing to go to frustrate democracy. What are the group’s connections with MI5 and is the Prime Minister involved? It’s a game of high stakes and soon Morton is in the Palace of Westminster fleeing for his life up into the dusty dereliction of the roof space. He needs to confront the reclusive leader of GB13.

People interact largely through personal communicators, a 25th century version that combines the personal computer and the cell phone. Much of the interaction is done through the worldwide semi-sentient computer net known as Central. Prime's population is declining. The primary cause of death is self-termination. Few children are being born. The futurists, aided by Central, conceive a desperate gamble: retrieve people from the past, from a time when populations were growing. Reconstitute their failing bodies, then winnow out those who might have the qualities Prime needs.