Down in the Sea of Angels

In the year 2106, climate change has altered the world, transforming borders, cities, and socioeconomic structures. Additionally, a cosmic event known as the 'Bloom' has awakened psionic abilities in a small percentage of the population.

One such individual is Maida Chao, who possesses the ability of psychometry, a gift that allows her to "read" the objects she touches and know its entire history. Newly employed with the Golden Gate Cultural Recovery Project in the area once known as San Francisco Bay, she must learn how to navigate the parameters of her abilities as well as the politics of the organization she works for. Until a chance encounter with a political leader's watch reveals a plan to eliminate psionic powers, and the people who possess them. People like her.

Terrified, but left with few options, Maida continues work at the GGCRP, when she stumbles upon a teacup and is psychically plunged into the lives of two of its previous owners - Ethan Chao of 2006, a "bourgeois bohemian" working his corporate design job while longing for greater purpose; and Li Nuan of 1906, an indentured servant in a Chinatown brothel.

On discovering that these two people are distant relatives of hers, a strong psychic connection is made and Maida realizes she can use the conduit of the teacup to send a message back through time, giving her the chance to warn her ancestors of the coming climate collapse and save her own life.