Gersen's extensive business empire includes Cosmopolis magazine, and he often masquerades as a journalist, "Henry Lucas".

He launches Extant, a livelier sister magazine to Cosmopolis, and publishes the picture in the free inaugural issue, offering large cash prizes for the identification of anyone in the photograph.

An attractive young woman, Alice Wroke, seeks temporary employment processing contest entries.

The hermit, as the new Triune, cancels Treesong's spurious rank, foiling another plan to acquire a position of immense power.

At the reunion, Treesong, assisted by his underlings, imposes imaginative (though non-lethal) humiliations on his childhood tormenters.

Gersen has Cosmopolis publish a sensationalized report of Treesong's exploits at the reunion and a letter purportedly from Tuty, in which she calls Howard their son's friend and casually mentions an exercise book she still has.

The Cleadhoes lure Treesong to their isolated jungle outpost on another world, but leave Gersen (and Alice, now his lover) behind.

They find that Otho has disposed of Treesong's henchmen, knocked him out and marmelized (converted to a stony substance) his legs.