Jael Timeline and Summary

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• Jael is at work behind the scenes throughout the first two thirds of the novel, and although we don't know it, it's her who causes the confusing reality-shifting that Janet, Jeannine, and Joanna experience.
• Eventually, Jael succeeds in bringing the other three J's to Womanland.
• Jael explains to the other three J's that she has been tracking them all for some time, and she reveals that all four of them are variations on the same essential genotype.
• As the four women eat a pre-cooked dinner, Jael explains to the other three J's that in her world, women and men are at war.
• Believing that Janet, Jeannine, and Joanna won't fully understand the situation in her world unless they see it with their own eyes, Jael brings them through the underground cities of Womanland and up to the Manland surface. Jael wears no disguise, but the other three J's are hidden in quarantine suits that cover their faces and bodies.
• On the surface, Jael brings the alter-egos to a Manland recreation center, where she meets her contact: a half-changed Manlander named Anna. He guides them to the quarters of a Manland Boss with whom Jael is expected to do business.
• The Manland Boss proposes an experimental program to Jael, one that will attempt to bring women and men back together.
• Whenever Jael attempts to make a comment, the Boss ignores her, or yells at her.
• The Boss eventually sits down beside Jael and begins to make sexual advances. She initiates the beginnings of "voluntary hysterical strength," and adrenaline begins to pump through her system.
• When it looks like the Boss is going to force himself on her, Jael announces that she's going to kill him. He accuses her of leading him on, and, rather than arguing about it, she goes in for the kill. When she's through, the Boss is bleeding to death on the floor.
• Jael ushers the other three J's out of there, and soon the foursome is on its way to Jael's home in Vermont.
• When they arrive, drinks are served by Davy, the lifelike automaton who lives in Jael's home.
• After telling the other three J's a little bit about her childhood, Jael goes to bed. When she wakes from a "didactic" nightmare, she heads over to Davy's room.
• Sex scene!
• As Jael finishes making love to Davy, she realizes that the other three J's are standing in the doorway. Unembarrassed, she finally reveals her reason for bringing them all together, and asks for their support in the war.
• Back in Joanna's world, Jael meets the other three J's for a Thanksgiving dinner at Schrafft's. She renews her request for support in the war, and when Janet declines, she tells her that the man-eating plague on Whileaway came from her people.
• As the group parts ways, Jael leaves with Jeannine, who plans to show her around New York City.