A real-time, five-hour story set in an airport cocktail lounge during a global catastrophe from Douglas Coupland, author of worldwide bestsellers. Trapped inside are five very different people: Karen, a single mom waiting to meet her online flirt; Rick, the down-on-his-luck cocktail lounge bartender; Luke, an escaped pastor; Rachel, a cool Hitchcock blonde with social communication difficulties; and the mysterious voice known as Player 1. As the world as they know it comes to an end, each of them, step by step, will lift the veil that shrouds the truth about themselves.In the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut and J.G. Ballard, Coupland explores the modern-day conundrums of time, human identity, society, religion and the afterlife. The book asks as many questions as it answers. After reading the story, the reader will be left in no doubt that humankind stands on the threshold of a new era... and that the path it has taken is irreversible.