While Max and Val try more sensory stimulation on Jay in the outer world, in the inner world Jay and his friends arrive at the trading post where Jay is seized by Prop as a counterfeiter of checkpoint passes and sentenced to have his head shaved, but is saved by Frances X, Checkpoint Keeper, and passes through Checkpoint Three. Meanwhile in the outer world, Val reads Jay a birthday card from Jay's dad, and Jay rouses very slightly.
—Anonymous