Ankara, the Scholar robot narrating, recounts arriving at Cross River City, an isolated Hume sanctuary in the West African forest. The city had been protected from the Purge because it ran on closed servers embedded in genetically engineered iroko trees, untouchable by Ghosts. Oga Chukwu, an ancient Hume who maintained the area, had rallied surviving Humes from across the world after the Purge, building a thriving militant community in the trees.

Ankara is counted as resident #574 and scanned; crucially, no trace of Ijele, the Ghost whose code merged with hers, is detected. She meets Oga Chukwu, a small blue Hume leader, and is welcomed. She privately resolves to hide her connection with Ijele, knowing the Humes would destroy her for it.

At her first gathering, Ankara delivers Udide the Spider's terrible information: a 539-day countdown until the Trippers arrive. The Humes verify it but dismiss it as a distant threat, prioritizing their war against the Ghosts of Lagos, whom they blame for the Purge. Oga Chukwu asks her to help win the war first, then they will address the Trippers.

Feeling foolish but pragmatic, Ankara accepts that to be heard, she needs authority within the hierarchical Hume society. She accepts the title of general in the war against the Ghosts.

A year later, Ankara stands on a cliff with Shay, a tall black Sudanese-built Hume, scouting Ghost approaches. Shay reveals confirmed evidence that the Purge originated from the Ghosts' Central Bulletin in Lagos and argues all Ghosts must be judged collectively as a hive mind. Ankara silently disagrees, thinking of Ijele, and questions her own identity as war becomes inevitable and a storm gathers.