Mars is a desolate world. Largely forgotten by Earth, the planet remainshelpless in the stranglehold of Arnie Kott, who as boss of the plumber'sunion has a monopoly over the vital water supply.Arnie Kott is obsessed by the past; the native Bleekmen, poverty-strickenwanderers, can see into the future; while to Manfred, an autistic boy, timeapparently stops. When one of the colonists, Norbert Steiner, commitssuicide, the repercussions are startling and bizarre.