Chapters 8-10 Summary

Circling Kai-tak Airport, Webb/Bourne agonizes about Marie, somewhere on the ground below among the teeming masses, but also studies the ground, sensing he knows this place. Self-probing has brought out fragments and flashes of memory, brief and confusing, and somehow not his own. It produces confusion and fear. Calling himself Howard Cruett, Webb/Bourne has confirmed that his suite 690 is available, and his first task on the ground is to find out who has made it available. In this colony, money is everyone's god.

At the registration desk, Webb/Bourne asks a young clerk to downgrade him to a smaller room, something he cannot do so without permission from Assistant Manager Liang. The middle-aged Asian, anxious to be of service, insists that the reservation stipulates this suite, but cannot reveal the confidential records. When Cruett (Webb/Bourne) proposes moving to...