In this chapter, we learn that the Paraguild intends to kill all the simaks, but that only one of them will be killed. The narrator tells us that he is a simak and that he has come to make the assassins pay for what they have done to him. He tells them that he suffers from amnesia and wishes that he could have remained at home, in hell, instead of living on a polluted, open-air sewer. He says that the whole of the world is an abomination, and that the only way to escape is to cut off a human's head and put it into psycho- formalin . He also says that he believes he has killed a human. He explains that he cut off the head because it was a fine specimen, and he says that this way, he can keep it in "semi- living state" and keep it as a memento for his "Granny." He tells the boys that they are not very far away from his home, but they can get dangerous as they go along the way. They need to get out of here, he says, and they must return to the river.