In Chapter 4, Uncle Axel discovers David’s telepathic ability. His discovery takes place when Axel overhears David talking aloud to himself. Uncle Axel questions David and learns that David is “speaking” to his half-cousin, Rosalind Morton. Axel also learns that there are others with this ability. After being convinced that this ability is real, Axel asks David if he could keep this a secret and never tell anyone about it. In this sense Axel acts as David’s guardian until David understands how important it is to not reveal that he has this special ability.
Chapter 4 also includes a raid from the Fringes and introduces David to the reality that most mutants aren’t as bad as his society has made them out to be. David also meets someone who, if it weren’t for his extra long legs and arms, would be the exact image of his father. This man is Spider-man. Spider-man asks David about Joseph and if the place where they were was Waknuk. This encounter with the Fringe people leads David to doubt Waknuk’s philosophy all the more.
The reader is also introduced to the relationship between Joseph Strorm and Angus Morton, Rosalind’s father. Joseph is angered when the government allows Angus to bring in a pair of great-horses. These great-horses do twice the work for half the feed and are extremely large. Joseph believes these horses to be deviations, but the Inspector tells him that they have been bred for tallness. In reality, people like Angus Morton are just selling out their beliefs for profit, and hypocrisy is shown to be a universal condition. The Inspector is annoyed by Joseph’s protest to the great-horses.
Chapter 4 also explains to the reader what Tribulation is and what mankind’s duty now is. Mankind’s duty is to fight unceasingly against the evils that Tribulation had loosed upon the world. Tribulation is supposedly a punishment from God. God let loose all the evils upon the world; flood, pestilence, fire, etc. It was sent to punish the phase of irreligiousness that the Old People were going through. In all reality, Tribulation is starting to sound like a nuclear holocaust. David explains how the world is trying to climb back into God’s good graces. The reader is starting to see that this novel is set in the future, but that this future has reverted to be like our past and that we, the reader, live in the times of the Old People.
Chapter 5 - "Discovery and Flight"
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