Outcast — Patricia Bernard

A Mega throwback is expendable! No one wants him. Not the Zoner village where he was born or the hated Megas he resembles. In the Arid Zone's harsh conditions, death can come at any time...

As a Mega Outcast child living in a garbage dump surrounding the walled, glass-and-steel city of Megalopolis, Fish was brought up in a farming tribal community where technologically-advanced Megas are feared and hated. Having turned seventeen, Fish is pushed over the border of his village into the gas pits and rubbish heaps that house the many clusters of outcasts who clean the city for those who consider them inferior between the hours of midnight and dawn.

Outcasts are only allowed to return to their Zoner village if they're chosen as mates. But none of the tribe females would willingly choose Fish, given his extreme height and skinniness, his white hair and green eyes. Then he sees Ari, who's also thin, tall, white-haired and green-eyed...but she's about to be thrown off the Ritual Pier.

Super-intelligent Megas have invented the 'Knowledge Chip', which is inserted into a baby's head. The better the Chip, the better the Megas lifestyle and the higher their position in the city. Ari's parents put too many chips in their daughter's brain, causing mental regression. Unless a substitute brain can be found for her, she'll be discarded at the pier. Can Fish save her?