Strange Attractors

In lieu of a preface, John's history and earlier adventures are revealed via one of Carver's several futuristic beings?a chaos-manipulating Quarx that lives inside the protagonist's head. Readers, too, might hope for the Quarx's clarifying assistance: characters' motivations are somewhat hazy here?Why must John battle Shipworld's malevolent elements? What is Ik's secret agenda??and an assortment of odd keystrokes that supposedly identify the speakers in a series of inner and outer voices proves confusing.