Tom O'Bedlam

"I know more than Apollo Fort, oft when he lies sleeping I behold the stars at mortal wars and the wounded welkin weeping." — Tom O'Bedlam's song

Like the medieval Tom O'Bedlam, Tom can't decipher the images plaguing his mind. To preserve the last shred of his sanity and keep these never-ending wonders a secret, he feigns insanity. Then a probe that has traveled over four light-years transmits the very pictures that have been haunting Tom's dreams. In this post-industrial world on the verge of total collapse, Tom becomes humanity's spokesperson to the distant planet that may be his world's salvation.