- The military tried to convince Hip that Major Thompson wasn't the Private First Class. Hip swore to find the maker of the device and kill Thompson.
- Bromfield, his new psychiatrist, tried to get Hip past his mood swings to the point that he could face Thompson again. Once the military finally brought the patient back to Thompson, Hip tried to attack him again, so the military discharged him. (Quick! How many psychiatrists are in this book?)
- Hip tried to follow Bromfield's fatherly advice to adjust to reality but failed. He tried to track down the device. He found a happy Mr. Prodd in a Pennsylvania asylum who told him about Lone. Hip then went to live in the woods. He found Lone's shelter and the aluminum tube, similar to what was on the anti-gravity generator.
- Hip also found the address to the Alicia Kew house in the shelter. But he ran into Thompson, he remembers, and then Janie found him.