Following one of Simon's leads, Jeremiah and Kurdy encounter one town where everyone was murdered, and another where touching is forbidden. Meanwhile, at Thunder Mountain, Markus' sickness presents an opportunity for Lee.

The whole townsfolk of Mayfair were murdered using cyanide. Jeremiah finds a charred book containing the phrase "Never let this happen again". Five miles to the west, in the town of Newhope, touching is forbidden, by a decree of the Committee for Moral Sanctity who control the town. Knowledge of the mass killing does not seem common here, as it is forbidden to go to Mayfair (because they rebelled against the no-touching decree). It transpires that the decree is an experiment to see whether the Big Death was transmitted via touch.

Neil Deveraux wants to move in with his girlfriend Corinne Lewis, but his guardian, Angus, won't let them in case they break the no-touching rule. When they are discovered having sex, Neil is sentenced to death by stoning.

Stan and the other elders were likely the ones who poisoned the Mayfair populace.

Naomi cared for her daughter Elayna when she was sick and as a result was chained up away from the rest of the town, thus providing a separate test group for the "experiment": if they showed signs of the Big Death but the rest of the town do not, then the elders could conclude that the disease is indeed transmitted by touch.

Markus is feverish and hallucinating, and sees a Native American figure who tries to speak to him. He pulls through, but it's clear that he's brooding on his role as leader. Perhaps the new proactive Thunder Mountain is something he feels uncomfortable with after things have remained static for so long. Lee is quick to turn Markus' sickness to his advantage, organising a council vote on who should succeed Markus in the event of his death.

Kurdy: "Abstinence, man - it's the number two killer in the world." "And what's number one?" "Believing liars."

It seems the Rover's radio - busted during "The Long Road" - has now been fixed.

Thunder Mountain has an infirmary and someone who performs as a doctor, though whether they have any more skills and equipment that the character from "The Bag" is an open question.

There's no plan in place for what to do in the event of Markus being unable to fulfil his executive role, which suggests he's never been too ill to perform his function before.

One would imagine it's a fairly common conclusion that the Big Death was transmitted by touch. However, the elders may well suspect that the disease could mutate into some other from, such as an airborne plague.

Why wasn't Elayna also chained up as part of the "contaminated" group? Perhaps they thought she couldn't be contaminated, being below the age of puberty.

Why do the elders sentence Neil to death rather than chain him up with the rest? Perhaps they think he's just too much of a loose cannon. Or perhaps, given that he is charged with violating the "supreme" decree, there is a greater penalty for having sex than simply touching. This does beg the question, what were the elders planning to do with Neil's girlfriend? She's as contaminated as Neil, but it looks as if they chain her up with Jeremiah and the rest.

Another great little story, packed with incident and character. The premise is very unusual, but Egan works hard to make it appear logical, and Kurdy gets to kick some ass.