The Shift comprised the Prime Times for London, the East Coast, and the West 
Coast. In Greenwich Time, it started around nine P.M., when Londoners 
were finishing dinner and looking for entertainment, and wound up about seven A.M., when Californians were going to bed. No matter what time zones 
they actually lived in, all ractors tried to work during those hours. In 
Shanghai's time zone, The Shift ran from about five A.M. to 
midafternoon, and Miranda didn't mind doing overtime if some well-heeled 
Californian wanted to stretch a ractive late into the night. Some of the 
ractors in her company didn't come in until later in the day, but Miranda still 
had dreams of living in London and craved attention from that city's 
sophisticated payers. So she always came to work early.