March Alec Summers studies arachnids on a research grant. Alec tells Jim he studied arachnids when he was 12. Some men come to a small Peruvian village where UCLA botanist Kimberley Ash is doing research, ostensibly to recruit workers for their lumber camp. The men return and attack the village. They take all the adults prisoner, destroy Ash's radio, and take her medicines and supplies.
Flight takes place over a period of six days.
September Alec Summers comes to Cascade to attend Rainier University on a big scholarship, taking the unheard-of quadruple major of Physics, Architecture, Neurolinguistics, and Anthropology. However, he hates to study, and nothing holds his interest for any length of time. He soon begins to slip, missing classes and failing to turn in assignments. Within six months, he will be in danger of flunking out. This would be the beginning of that school year.