Chapter 7 - The Pendragon & chapter 8 - Moonlight at Belbury

Chapter 7 The Pendragon

[Note: Since this is how I came to know him in the first two books, I will be referring to Mr. Fisher-King as Ransom throughout. I hope this is not too confusing.]

Part 1 - Jane meets Ransom (also known as Mr. Fisher-King) for the first time. She is utterly overwhelmed by his mere presence

Part 2 - Jane talks privately with Ransom. She finds he regards her modern notions on marriage with what may best be described as sad amusement. She is told she must return to Edgestow and her husband Jane is sent away when something great and alien is approaching.

Part 3 - Jane contemplates the emotional experience of meeting Ransom while on the train back to Edgestow. She arrives to find the town in the midst of a riot.

Part 4 - Jane is arrested by the N.I.C.E. police & tortured by Hardcastle for information about the resistance. She escapes them in the confusion of the riot and returns to St. Anne's.

Chapter 8 Moonlight at Belbury

Part 1 - Deputy Director Whithers scolds Hardcastle for mishandling Jane. He says if torture is necessary, it should be all-out, and these half-measures are counter-productive. The two of them then go to meet with the Head, going through an elaborate sanitary procedure before they are allowed to do so.

Part 2 - Jane meets with the household at St. Anne's. She finds the company surprisingly egalitarian, considering Ransom's views on marriage. Also, they have a bear.

Part 3 - Deputy Director Whithers invites Mark to bring Jane to live with them at N.I.C.E. Mark is disturbed by the idea, sensing that Jane's presence will reveal things he'd rather not face about the Institute and his current lifestyle. Mark vaguely turns down the director. He later finds out from Hardcastle that this has gotten him into trouble. In a private conversation in his rooms, Filostrato explains that the Institute's ultimate goal is the eradication of organic life in favor of pure mind, which, he says, has already been accomplished by the inhabitants of our moon. Mark is then told that a form of practical life after death has already been accomplished right here, and he is invited to meet with the Head.

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First off, I apologize for last week's gap. Considering obligations coming up, I think I'm going to cut back to one chapter a week. Second, I think we have finally arrived at the more fantastical elements of the story that a few of the commenters have been craving.

I look forward to your comments.