Sight of Proteus

"Would you like to be rich, really rich? Why wait? Develop a new form to catch the public fancy? We will sell you a low-cost experimental package. Includes everything that you need to create your very own form change program..."

Then have it submitted to the Office of Form Control, maybe even licensed. But the vetting's very strict. Computer-augmented bio-feedback and chemotherapy have made it all possible, but there are dangers. In the Old City, away from the fashionable, cosmetically changed crowds, the more grotesque failed experiments prowl the slum alleyways.

And now a chance computer enquiry has thrown up an appalling possibility. Not only is an unauthorised program under way, but the man responsible is the most senior and most brilliant in the field. The whole definition of humanity is under threat and the stability of a grossly overcrowded world at risk.