Humans colonize desert and arid Mars. The aboriginal cities are abandoned, and the Martians themselves, or Bleekmen, have degenerated and wander around their dead planet. The colonists are fighting for land with the earthly bigwigs - until the UN began to cultivate them and the prices jumped up. Arnie Kott, a local trade union leader, wants to use Manfred, an autistic boy who can supposedly see the future in order to gain an advantage in Martian real estate deals. Manfred sends him to the future to learn about the UN's plans to develop Mars. But did he end up in the real future or in a version of it created by the paranoid mind of an autistic person? Will he remain sane when he returns to the present?