The pilgrims arrive in Keats, Hyperion’s capital. The Consul meets his former aide Theo who is now the Governor-General of Hyperion, the newest world in the Hegemony. Theo reports that there have been over 20,000 deaths and disappearances attributed to the Shrike, and many of them have been the Self-Defense Force. The Hegemony’s FORCE has only served to control the mobs of people trying to flee to safety.

Theo shows them the ruins of the Shrike Temple, which was recently destroyed by people angry with the Shrike cultists. After Theo departs, the pilgrims go to a bar but are quickly escorted onto the river barge Benares by an android. The former soldier, Fedmahn Kassad, then tells his tale.

Fedmahn Kassad, a member of the Palestinian diaspora, grew up in a poor and violent neighborhood. As a teenager, he joined the FORCE military when given a choice by a judge. He realized that he enjoyed the orderliness of military life, especially the New Bushido code, which is based on the principles of Japan’s samurai and center on self-respect, duty, and honor. During a war simulation at the Olympus Command School: Historical Tactical Network, he was cornered by an enemy in a simulation of the 1415 Battle of Agincourt.