Four Times Ten to the Ninth Power A.D.; Desperate Euphoria Summary

Tyler and his friends make it to a harbor on the south end of Padang. Jala says that they will all leave once the freighter that he bribed into taking them to the right port is loaded with its usual cargo. He says that Diane will join them on the following day, then leaves. The migrants spend the night in an abandoned office of the harbor. Tyler talks to Ina about Wun and the possible motives of the Hypotheticals. He hints that the Spin was but a way of delaying the end of the world that humans were bringing onto themselves with overpopulation and the depletion of natural resources. In the morning, Jala returns, followed by a wounded and bleeding Diane.

As the...