COMRADE V. sits at the white console in the sparsely furnished, windowless room where he is held prisoner reading the daily printout that supplies a constantly altered version of his case history. The story that emerges from the details on the printout, V. concurs, is in many respects accurate: the incredible child prodigy who became a brilliant mathematician, highly respected in his own country and honored throughout the world. Beyond this point, V.'s story and that of his captors differ drastically. According to V., an increasing political awareness made him dangerous to a government which stripped him of his prestigious position and imprisoned him in a mental institution near the capital.

And now, V. is convinced, both the daily printout and his psychiatrist are conspiring to shake his belief in his own sanity.