- Prologue-

Chain reactions are curious things. People, places, and emotions connected by the thread of circumstance that spiral through time in ever-widening ecliptics of consequence.

You are getting philosophical in your old age, Goodkat. It is not circumstance if you orchestrate the entire debacle! You just went soft.

The man grinned at himself in the mirror. His conscience spoke with Slevin's voice.

Shut up, kid, and let me soliloquise. Maybe not circumstance then. However, this is more fun. Like dominoes!

Mr. Goodkat was no stranger to chain reactions. Almost twenty years ago, he faced a moral quandary, made an out-of-character decision, and as a result, he now waited in a badly decorated hotel room for the telephone to ring. Then it rang and the possibilities coalesced into a helix of probability.

Goodkat palmed the phone from its hook.