Burn the Sky — Robert E. Vardeman

The world of AD 2234 is filled with hope and despair. Disease-ravaged Earth's population has fled to space and now inhabits immense cylindrical O'Neill Colonies scattered throughout the Solar System, havens for humanity.

Transhuman and clever, the courier known only as Lariat agrees to a dangerous memory cast that imprints a renegade scientist's memory into his brain. It's supposed to be a quick transfer, but Lariat finds himself caught up in political intrigue that endangers millions and threatens to BURN THE SKY.

The first story in the Space Islands series.