Through the Heart

A monstrous vehicle called the Oasis moves inexorably across the wasteland. A human hive that symbolizes sanctuary, it dispenses a treatment for "the crying," an apocalyptic plague of madness that has destroyed the land.

When his wagon breaks down in the desert, Kem's father trades his son to the Oasis for a new engine. Now Kem begins a new life as a galley slave aboard the Oasis, where he is befriended, in turns, by the strangely androgynous Sander, the enigmatic Captain Hand, and the beautiful Davina. These friendships form a living thread leading Kem through the labyrinthine structure of the Oasis, for he cannot resist questioning the complex systems that govern life and death in this desolate world. And the answers are more shocking than he ever imagined . . . .

Through the Heart is a powerful and haunting trek through the uncharted realms of mind and spirit—a tour de force of the imagination by one of science fiction's most daring writers.