Book One: The Thing Was, Chapter 17-Chapter 18 Summary

In Manhattan, publicity man Bobby King realizes that "the Nature Cruise of the Century" is defunct. Due south, in the same time zone, Andrew MacIntosh is shouting into a dead telephone; Bobby King has a stuffed Galapagos iguana that he often shouts into the same way, as if it were a telephone, as a joke. King has made the marine iguana a symbol of the cruise. It eats seaweed and then sits in the sun to let the seaweed cook in its stomach.

King is startled that six people have already gone to Ecuador, anticipating the cruise. King wonders why Roy is not there with his wife, not knowing that Roy is dead. When the Hepburns signed up as the first passengers, King spoke with Mary but found nothing interesting to...