Violence

Shira lives in a violent world.

There is little sense of security. Even Tikva, the utopian space is beset by dangers from the multis.

The multis with their domed enclaves effectively own people but do not value them. Workers, especially women are at their mercy. They could be dismissed and forced to move to the glop.

In the glop violence is rife. Deadly gang warfare is an everyday occurrence. Any passer-by could get sucked in. The rich are at risk of having their hands cut off to give illegal access to their financial accounts.

There are organ scavengers who will kill to obtain organs for sale for transplanting.

Women may be safe on the streets of Tikva but even there in the international abstract space of the net people may be under attack. When projected into the net people's minds can be scrambled or their bodies attacked by electrical surges. Malkah survived one such attack because the attackers thought that her heart was artificial and tried to disable it.

Violence seems to be endemic because the very environment is dangerous. High levels of U.V. light and pollution make it lethal to go out under the sky without protection. The world abounds with terrible mutated diseases and polluted water and air. Most benign wildlife has been destroyed. Without birds insects breed unchecked, becoming vectors in the new diseases.