The novel flashes back. Simon J. Craft has now been in solitary confinement for 100 days. A guard named Officer Lawrence has been torturing him using the Influencer, which Simon considers the worst version of hell.

In the present, Reporter Tracy Lasser’s speech on Sports Central has reinvigorated a small backlash about the inhumane CAPE program. Now, the Coalition to End Neo-Slavery hosts a meeting to prepare for an upcoming protest, which is projected to be larger than usual. Sunset’s daughter, Mari—the young woman who gave Thurwar the note about Season 33’s new rule—is there with her aunt, Kai, the Coalition’s unofficial leader. When Mari graduated three years prior, the commencement address was about how becoming a capitalist is awesome, but Mari doesn’t want to go into business—many companies also own prisons, and she thinks profiting off of others’ incarceration is immoral.

A-Hamm marches and camps for three days. Thurwar’s knee aches. She has kept this injury secret from others; it happened during a fight with ReckLass, who jammed another of Melancholia Bishop’s former weapons into Thurwar’s leg. Thurwar reflects that ReckLass must have purchased the gear with Blood Points after Bishop’s death—another way to get equipment other than winning it in battle.