return-to-origin

The chapter 'Preamble' introduces the narrator's personal crisis at age thirty-five, marked by a lost year and a return to his college town, U., where he takes a visiting position at a cutting-edge scientific research center. The narrator reflects on his past, his failed plans, and his outsider status within the scientific community, while exploring the emerging global digital network—the world web—as a new form of existence and connection. The chapter sets up themes of identity, displacement, and the intersection of humanistic inquiry with advanced science and technology.

Beverly Rogan struggles with uncontrollable laughter as a coping mechanism amid the trauma of escaping her abusive husband Tom, reflecting on her physical and emotional scars. Supported by her feminist friend Kay McCall, Beverly begins to reclaim her life and prepares to return to Derry to confront a mysterious childhood promise and a looming supernatural evil. The chapter intertwines Beverly's personal trauma and recovery with themes of friendship, memory, and the confrontation of a greater, malevolent force.