A future of government-enforced unemployment awaits Lisse and seven classmates upon their high school graduation, at a time when almost all human occupations have been supplanted by robotic work forces. Living in their assigned abandoned warehouse, the group learns to scavenge furniture and food while escaping the unwelcome attention of street gangs and the powerful thought police. Soon after they develop workable daily routines and a way of living together in relative peace, the group is issued an invitation to The Game, a mysterious event about which rumors abound. They eventually learn that the addicting Game experience, assumed to consist of hypnosis and computer simulation, is actually the government's way of dealing with mass overpopulation and societal dissatisfaction--selecting young adults with whom to seed other planets. The relationships of Lisse and her peers as they evolve through group process are gripping in this unique science fiction novel. (Age 13 and older)