John doesn't want to believe he's a clone. Can you blame him? He's seen the disgust in people's eyes and heard the savage whispering that he's a soulless automaton at best and a demon from Hell at worst. And it tears at him to know that his mother is not his mother, but with that knowledge came the wondrous gift of meeting Aaron, his brone, who becomes his childhood defender and one true friend. John can't bear not knowing why he and Aaron were not conceived in passion, not born in agony, but constructed, purpose-built of tiny bits of flesh, rent and torn and slapped back together to be grown in sterile vessels. Aaron wants him to forget it all and live his life, but how can he? The UGS, the United Genetics Services, the ruthless corporation from whose assembly lines spew the cookie-cutter clones and replacement organs for all the world, made them and won't stop testing them. He watches his older brones begin to suffer and die without explanation, as the headaches begin for him just as they did for them. But with the terrifying headaches come the sparkly fore-images and the shadowy after-images. The sparklies give a glimpse of what those around him may do in the coming minutes, while the dark shadows reveal what they have already done. When the UGS falters in its battle to keep him from the other, more powerful corporations which hunger to use him for their own purposes, he vows to fight them all. He has to "see" the optimal path, the one path that might lead to life and freedom for Aaron and for himself, but even for a Precog, that will not be easy or painless.