The Rings of Venus

The story: Gil Hammond, who owns a sod farm in the Pacific Northwest, schemes to give up his business to move his family to the futuristic city of Venus in Florida. Nick (almost 15) expects a vacation from the boring school he attends, but he and his sister Erika (11) soon discover that this strange place is no vacation. It’s more like another planet!
In Venus, they find foods that appear on special table tops, cars that can hover, and self-replicating machines that work atop apartment buildings as they’re being constructed. They also meet Alana, the almost too-beautiful teenager who is assigned to be their guide as they adjust to life in this unusual city.
Operating on a no-money system, Venus has no schools, no laws, and no police as envisioned by the founder, Jack Frasier. Instead, people pursue their own interests at “gatherings” and, because people are more fulfilled, the city experiences almost no crime.
Not all is rosy, though. Tony who arrived the same day as the Hammonds from a detention center would like nothing more than to sabotage the systems. And Dad is forced to return to the Hammond’s hometown where someone has vandalized their property. While there, a new business deal threatens to split the family.
In his father’s absence, Nick becomes friends with Jack Frasier, who teaches him about his new philosophy of living. But unexpectedly, Nick stumbles upon the truth behind Venus that no one else has figured out.
Nick realizes the city that he has grown to love could fail when the secret is exposed. Nothing is as it seems now, and Nick even wonders if Alana could be something other than a flesh-and-blood girl. He questions everything—Who is Jack Frasier? What’s underneath Venus? What might Tony have to do with any of this?
After a hurricane lashes Venus, Nick and Alana search for a way to re-set the power systems of the city and, in so doing, finally get answers to all the questions and more.