Chapter 1, The Priest's Tale, The Man Who Cried God Summary

The Consul awakes in the Treeship, to Templar leader, Het Masteen, and they walk together to the dining platform to meet the other pilgrims. The Consul inquires about his ship and if it has been taken out of storage. Masteen informs him that is has, and at that very moment they are being escorted by a Hegemony warship.

Masteen begins the introductions of the seven pilgrims to one another. Besides the Consul they are Lenar Hoyt, Colonel Fedhman Kassad, Martin Silenus, Brawne Lamia, Sol Weintraub and Masteen himself. They decide they want to know one another's stories and reasons for coming on the pilgrimage. They draw numbers and Father Hoyt is first. He explains he must tell his story by explaining someone else's.

His friend, Father Dure...