# Plague of Pythons — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Plague of Pythons by Frederik Pohl.

- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/i.md): Chandler's trial for rape and assault is held in a high school auditorium. The prosecution presents evidence of his brutal attack on Peggy Flershem and attempted assault on Mrs. Porter. Chandler, who claims temporary pan
- [II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/ii.md): Chandler, on trial for rape committed during a possession, reflects on his innocence and the hypocrisy of a society where many guilty individuals walk free. His lawyer advises him that a possession defense is futile beca
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/iii.md): Chandler awakens in a freight car with a burned hand and a branded 'H' on his forehead, having escaped after being attacked by Ellen Braisted and others. The train stops unexpectedly, and Chandler suspects the engineer i
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/iv.md): Chandler, having survived the destruction of the Orphalese compound, is captured by the cult and bound on stage. Walter leads a meeting using Kahlil Gibran's 'The Prophet' to explain possession and guilt. Meg recounts ho
- [V](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/v.md): Chandler, possessed by an Exec, is forced to travel from Los Angeles to Hawaii. Along the way, he experiences moments of freedom when his possessor is distracted by a copy of Gibran's The Prophet. He is ultimately delive
- [VI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/vi.md): Chandler is transported to Oahu and interrogated by the execs Koitska and a mysterious girl about the Orphalese cult. After proving his engineering skills, he is tasked with building a square-wave generator. He then expe
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/vii.md): Chandler arrives in Honolulu and visits a radio parts store called Parts 'n Plenty, where he meets John Hsi. He learns about the Exec's oppressive rule, including a public square where maimed and dying people are display
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/viii.md): Chandler begins building a mysterious submillimeter radio device for Koitska, learning from John Hsi that the Execs originated from a Soviet mind-control project. He also meets Rosalie Pan, a former actress turned Exec, 
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/ix.md): Chandler flies with Rosalie Pan to Hawaii, grappling with the paradox of her charm and the execs' monstrous cruelty. He experiences the execs' casual use of human bodies as telephonic relays, learns about the origins and
- [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/x.md): Chandler witnesses the brutal massacre of the Society of Slaves by exec-controlled police, realizing Rosalie Pan saved him. Later, Koitska forces Chandler to fly a helicopter to Hilo, where they set up a standby transmit
- [XI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/xi.md): Chandler is forced into brutal labor constructing a control installation on Hilo, possessed repeatedly by execs. He discovers a deserted town filled with skeletons, evidence of the execs' genocide. A fellow worker, Bradl
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/xii.md): Chandler struggles with his role as Rosalie Pan's companion, feeling like a pampered pet rather than a man. Rosalie tries to justify the Execs' genocidal actions as necessary work, and eventually offers Chandler a corone
- [XIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/xiii.md): Chandler spends nine days in limbo while his exec membership is voted on. Rosalie explains the one-blackball rule and recounts her own induction. During a romantic moment, Koitska possesses Chandler, revealing himself as
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/xiv.md): Chandler, in a desperate bid to end the execs' rule, possesses a leper's body to destroy the Hilo installation, then returns to his own body to modify his coronet. He confronts Koitska, rips off his coronet, and is brief
- [XV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/xv.md): Chandler, exhausted after a night of killing nearly all the execs and many slaves, holds the only working coronet. He briefly considers destroying all installations to prevent reconstruction, but then decides to keep the
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/plague_of_pythons_se/chapters/endnotes.md): The endnotes section of the book, with a transcriber's note indicating a probable printer error of missing words.

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