Chapter 9 Summary

Rick enters the opera house and listens to a rehearsal of The Magic Flute. The opera house is described as "the enormous whale-belly of steel and stone." Rick listens to one of the singers sing a passage about a magic bell that make enemies disappear. He then thinks about Mozart's tragic death of kidney disease, and decides that humanity will eventually be wiped out in the same way that the androids he hunts are destroyed.

He sees Luba Luft on stage, and is impressed by her voice. He thinks about his role as an android killer, and then decides that his job is even more necessary when androids are as beautiful or as talented as humans are. When rehearsal stops, Rick follows the performers backstage and prepares to test Luft to be sure she is an android. He knocks and enters her dressing...