The chapter opens with a soliloquy by the Governess, who tells the audience that she has never cared for the business of reconstructive surgery. She says that she is afraid that they are not allowed to use firearms at the hospital, so they have decided to alter the weapons so that they will grant superhuman powers to the masters. The Governess asks her son if he would be willing to swallow the medicine she has given him. He says that he was a member of the Fine Arts Club at school and that he loves sculpture. He tells her that he would like to use the medicine to make his "magna opus" of sculpture. She tells him that he will have to wait until he has a new friend in his ranks.