The novel opens with a flashback to the opening ceremony of the new government, which is to be held the following weekend. The narrator tells us that he is looking forward to the ball because he wants to make it easier for his new student, Mr. Lorry, to get a job at the university. He tells Lorry that he agreed to keep their relationship a secret because he wanted to make Lorry's life easier, but now that he has made Lorry a "pseudo-blood pack" , he realizes that things aren't going as well as he had planned. He asks Lorry why he has decided to keep the secret, and Lorry tells him that he's trying to make him proud, but Lorry has ignored his feelings. He apologizes for not knowing that Lorry was upset by his decision to keep his secret, but he says that he hopes they can find a way to make their relationship public at the ball, since it's not appropriate to announce it at the opening of a new government. He says that everyone will be happy that they have been through a war to get to this point, and he hopes that they can work together to make the future a better place. He concludes by thanking Lorry for his speech, and then invites Lorry to join him for a toast to the future. He feels bad for his performance at the ceremony, and wonders if his fellow humans are ashamed of him. He wonders if he should have been more confident when he left the government, and decides that he will try to invite a new guy to come dance with him at the upcoming ball.