Maia notifies the "Planetary Equilibrium Authority", but is kidnapped and imprisoned by the Perkinites. She discovers that Renna, a prisoner in another cell, is transmitting messages electrically. She talks with Renna by code and develops a friendship with her unseen fellow inmate. When she discovers that Renna is being transferred somewhere else, Maia engineers her escape, only to find that idealistic radicals ("rads") and their allies have already freed Renna, who is actually the "Visitor," a "male" envoy from the rest of humanity whose arrival has triggered great debate among the leaders of Stratos as to how to respond to the renewed - and unwanted - contact. She tags along with Renna and the rads.