Dangerous Vision

Sergei Prokov was still a medical student when he was posted to a re-education camp for shamans. That experience transformed him. He learned to separate his mind from his body and send it out as a bird in spirit flights. A childhood bout of polio left his right leg underdeveloped, and as an adult he learned to make up for it with sheer mental discipline.

By the time the story begins, Sergei is a psychiatrist in Siberia, employed at a defense institute. He has devoted his career to the Cold War effort, but when the Soviet Union collapses, the money behind his work disappears. His partner, Tai Leung, is the institute's leading remote viewer in its psychic warfare program. Tai is the love of his life, and the two plan to marry when Sergei accepts a position with an oil multinational in New York City. On the night they are due to leave, a severe snowstorm forces Sergei's car off the road, and Tai dies in the crash.

In New York, Sergei starts training Americans in remote viewing, and he also tries to find a new romance.