Princeton labors under deepening Dark, its surface iced while subterranean industry booms. Hrunkner Unnerby, juggling impossibly tight schedules and fearful of a Southland nuclear strike, visits Sherkaner Underhill at Hill House. The city’s frenzy mirrors the stakes: survival infrastructure rushes forward as panic and speculation surge.

In a private session, Sherkaner tries to reveal a grand theory—aliens hidden since the New Sun—claiming his videomancy masks their surveillance. He initiates a demonstration, but the feed resolves into General Victory Smith’s live image. Smith tersely forbids him from distracting critical personnel and terminates the connection, leaving Sherkaner shaken and Unnerby heartsick.

Unnerby departs, deciding the crisis must be managed without Sherkaner. In the elevator he meets Lieutenant Victory—now Victory Lighthill—who escorts him toward the airport with a capable security team. They discuss Sherkaner’s decline and Smith’s minimal indulgence of his projects. Victory reveals she and her siblings form Smith’s trusted quick‑inspection unit.

Driving through a city racing to harden against thermal collapse, Unnerby sees the scale of preparations and the vulnerability to even a limited nuclear strike. At the field, Victory shares her chosen surname, honoring Underhill’s illuminated home and ethos to “stand on high places and reach out,” a quiet pledge of endurance as Unnerby returns to urgent duties.