The Outgoing Man is happy to follow the instructions he's been given, which will deliver him safely to his next destination, but he is derailed at his first port of call and ends up in a huge red brick edifice where nothing seems to get done and nobody knows who's supposed to be doing it. Things begin to unravel further when he misses his connection and is placed under the jurisdiction of an invisible bureaucrat assigned to 'deal directly with his claim'. He befriends Walter, who promises him a way out, but they soon fight over the affections of Colubrine and the recruitment of the mysterious Mr D. to Walter's revolutionary cause. Then Walter disappears and it comes to light that Mr D. is descended from a long line of cold-blooded killers . . .