S makes his first verbal contact with people on land after getting off  of the ship. S expresses doubt about his decision to speak to some of the demonstrators-“Has he crawled out of the sea only to make a fatal error with his first decision on land?” (79)-and it turns out that his suspicions are justified. The two men immediately seize S and begin to interrogate him.

The first things that the men ask S are “Who are you?” and “What’s your name?” (79), but they quickly realize that his identity doesn’t matter. What matters is who he is working for. This shows that the demonstrators view their enemies (or perceived enemies) not as individuals, with identities and names, but as tools of their superiors. This is an interesting commentary on identity, as well as an indicator of how paranoid and passionate the demonstrators are about their cause.

The two men are clearly very suspicious of S because they barely listen to him, cutting him off in two of the three times that he speaks on the page. This is further evidence that the two men are on edge and anxious.

It may also be worth noting that page 79 is the first time Vevoda is mentioned in the text of Ship of Theseus-this is where the conflict that largely dominates the book is introduced.

In the margins, Eric and Jen note that Straka is setting up Vevoda as a parallel to Straka’s “real-world” enemy Bouchard, the owner of a large company-

“Everything goes back to Calais-Straka trying to expose Bouchard, and Bouchard fighting back.”

The anger of distrust that the men feel towards Vevoda is similar to Straka’s anger and distrust towards Bouchard.

The only other margin note is Jen protesting Eric’s perceived unwillingness to meet in person. This shows how Jen feels strongly about wanting to meet with Eric, and that she does not believe the feeling is mutual.