Shortly before Kato Whip was to become Kato Whip, he was waiting in line at a bank. He waited patiently, as he had done so countless times before. There was no hurry. Suddenly a woman crowded in front of him. He let it go. What did it matter? It wasn't that much more of a wait. But the more he thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. She had been rude not only to him but all the people behind him. In fact, by his inaction, he had implicitly condoned her every rude act going forward.

The woman had finished at the window by the time he thought this through. As she exited the bank, he sought a glimpse of her face, but saw only that she wore a diaphanous white gown.

At the bank window, instead of depositing his paycheck, he withdrew his life savings. Dropping by his place of employment, he turned in his resignation. Then (at last!) he changed his name to Kato Whip. With the clothes on his back and his life savings stuffed carelessly into them, he set off in search of the Diaphanous Woman. When he found her, and there was little doubt that he would, he'd give her a long overdue piece of his mind.

But even as he began his search, the city landscape vanished, and he found himself on a forested ridge-on a world seemingly created just for his quest.

500 pages