New Characters
Irmgard Baty: Pris Stratton’s friend from Mars; wife of Roy Baty.

Roy Baty: Pris Stratton’s friend from Mars; husband of Irmgard Baty.

Summary
Isidore excitedly heads home after his eventful day at work. He has purchased some rare and expensive food items from a black-market grocery store bean curd, ripe peaches and soft cheese all of which cost him two weeks’ worth of pay. He has also retrieved an extremely rare bottle of wine from a safety deposit box at the Bank of America.

When he arrives at his apartment building, Isidore heads straight for Pris Stratton's apartment. She answers the door and notes that Isidore sounds more “grown up” than he did in their previous encounter. Isidore remarks that this is simply a result of him taking care of routine matters at work and that he has with him some desirable food items that he hoped that they could use to make dinner together. Stratton notices the food items and becomes visibly excited. Immediately after her initial response, however, she returns to her original lifeless demeanor. Isidore notes this and asks Stratton why her mood has so quickly changed. Stratton responds by saying that the precious food items will be wasted on her and declines to explain further. She thanks Isidore for bringing food to her apartment but then asks him to leave. Isidore states that he thinks the reason Pris seems so depressed is because she lacks friends. Stratton explains that she does have friends, but that bounty hunters have killed most of them. Isidore doesn’t know what a bounty hunter is, so Stratton explains. Isidore states that murder goes against the primary ethical concept of Mercerism and he has difficulty understanding why a bounty hunter would be coming after her. He then offers to protect her by buying a laser gun and leaving his job. Stratton thanks him and explains that the bounty hunters have already gotten the others: Polokov, Garland, Luba and Hasking. She mentions two more names, Roy and Irmgard Baty, and states that they should have already gotten in touch with her, if they were even still alive.

Stratton then starts pacing about the apartment and comments on a verbal mistake Isidore made when he began talking about the food. She states that it is the same type of slip made by androids. She explains that she knows about androids because she had just come from New New York, Mars, with her friends. Stratton then remarks about how she got involved in the hobby of collecting “pre-colonial fiction,” or sci-fi books, and that the books bring a high price on Mars. She describes some of the ideas contained in the books where authors typically write about space travel to other planets. Earth, she explains, is described without any radioactive dust, and planets like Venus and Mars are usually depicted as paradise. Isidore responds that he would find this type of reading depressing, but Stratton declares that the stories do not have a negative affect on her. Libraries on Earth, Stratton declares, still have these books, and that smuggling them to Mars is a lucrative business.

Stratton seems to be warmly engaged in the conversation when a knock sounds at the door. Stratton immediately orders Isidore to sit still. It is Roy and Irmgard. Isidore nervously opens the door to see two figures standing in the hallway. Isidore notes their attractive appearance and has no time to ask questions before the two enter the apartment and excitedly embrace Stratton.

Analysis
Chapter Thirteen revisits the idea that the destruction of androids by bounty hunters is contradictory to the concept of empathy inherent to Mercerism. Isidore’s new neighbor, Pris Stratton, presents a new twist to this theme with a morbid description of the money that bounty hunters receive as incentive to destroy androids. Isidore’s ignorance concerning bounty hunters does not prevent him from posing the obvious question of how the actions of bounty hunters are condoned even when they seem to go against the fundamental principals of Mercerism.