Acho que isso é Earthworks por Brian Aldiss.
Eu gostaria de poder dar muitas citações de apoio, mas não consigo encontrar minha cópia. No entanto, tenho certeza de que me lembro das unidades antigráficas do tamanho da geladeira e do homem no mar. Existem vários resumos por aí. O site de Brian Aldiss diz :
Out of Africa comes a dead man walking upon the water – a portent of the political adventures into which Knowle Noland, ex-convict, ex-traveller and captain of the 80,000-ton freighter Trieste Star, is about to tumble headlong.
Choked, disease-ridden towns, robots and prison gangs tending the bare, poison drenched countryside are all characteristic of Knowle’s world; only in Africa is the soil still fertile and the people still relatively vital. On the coast of Africa, near Walvis Bay, Knowle runs his freighter aground; and there he meets Justine and the destructive destiny that purges him of guilt and frees him from hallucination.
Se bem me lembro, o homem morto andando na água é o cadáver sustentado pelo pacote anti-gravidade.