- As crops worldwide are failing, the Global Agricultural Authority scratches its head.
- In England, Prime Minister Starling tosses and turns until a nightmare about the global food shortage wakes him up.
- Abdul Wahab, a boy whom the Prime Minister keeps as a (sexual) companion, tries to calm him down by listening to his woes.
- Wahab suggests that the government might want to try prayer, since nothing else seems to be working. Since English society has been secular for a long, long time, he suggests praying to whatever is causing the crop blights, if not to God.
- As the Prime Minister drifts back to sleep, news items from around the globe flash through his mind. It's clear that food riots and raids are beginning, and in some places (like Banff, Alberta), hungry people are resorting to cannibalism. Was that a subtle dis on Canadians?