- Back to the present. (Still with us?)
- Ben tells Jubal he did not accept the ménage à trois offer. In fact, he was in such a hurry to bail that he almost fell six stories down the bounce tube, but something (Mike, maybe?) caught him.
- Jubal and Ben consider why Ben had the reaction he did to Mike's invitation. (Um, because it's completely random?)
- Ben argues that the behavior is shocking, but Jubal thinks the cultural heritage and moral code Ben was raised with might be to blame.
- If this is starting to sound very similar to the Duke/Jubal talk from earlier in the book, that's because it is very similar to the Duke/Jubal talk from earlier in the book. But don't skip it assuming it's recycled material. There's a lot of good stuff here.
- True to form, Jubal discusses past cultures that have promoted the sharing of spouses including Eskimos and early Christian sects.
- They discover, just as Jill suggested in the last chapter, that Ben's real issue is the jealousy he feels for Jill and the thought of sharing her.
- Nailed it.
- Jubal bets Ben a thousand dollars that Mike did indeed perform the miracles. He ponies up another thousand, claiming that if Ben returned to the Nest, the people there would accept him.
- A day later, Ben wires Jubal two thousand dollars.
- A week later, Jubal receives a message saying that Ben is studying the Martian language.
- Oh, how things change.