“Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone” by Ian McDonald

As a bril­liant graph­ic arts stu­dent, Ethan Ring stum­bled on a secret so awe­some that its exis­tence could not remain hid­den. The com­put­er-gen­er­at­ed images he helped cre­ate con­tained infi­nite pow­ers: the pow­er to heal, erase mem­o­ries, bring ecsta­sy. kill sav­age­ly. Locked into a dev­il’s bar­gain with the mono­lith­ic Euro­pean gov­ern­ment, Ethan now sees his one change to escape the dark forces of destruc­tion that have enslaved his soul. He will brave the treach­er­ous ter­rain, the law­less bands of aki­ra, and the pow­er-armored secu­ri­ty forces to under­take a thou­sand-mile pil­grim­age. But the dan­ger Ethan fears most comes from with­in. It is the seduc­tive lure of his own gift, a pow­er whose cost may be his own damnation.

Pri­mal man­dalas, pried loose from the deep­est parts of the brain, capa­ble of affect­ing any­one who sees them. One caus­es reli­gious ecsta­sy. One engen­ders heal­ing. One caus­es men­tal blind spots and anoth­er men­tal blank­ness. One eras­es memories.

One caus­es obe­di­ence in who­ev­er sees it.

And one kills.

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