Can anyone explain this book to me? [SPOILERS DO NOT OPEN IF YOU HAVE NOT READ]

[Crackpype]

The Night Train chapter ties thing the story together, especially the spirit who calls in to talk with Zookeeper. I gather from this:

1) Arupadhatu is a spirit who starts in Guru and by the end of the 1st 8 chapters has transmigrated into Mo M. (i.e. Zookeepers MoM haha) and gets finally zapped by Zookeeper after their discussion.

2) This spirit references 8 other spirits, 5 with direct interaction and 3 indirect. I take this to refer to the previous 8 chapters of the book, each chapter being "ghostwritten" by one of the spirits.

3) Night Train chapter was "ghostwritten" by Zookeeper himself, as entire chapter consists only of phone conversations and radio broadcast that he would have access to.

So, what path does Arupadhatu take to get from Guru to Mo M.?
We have clues:

- He has direct contact with 5 story characters and indirect with other 3. I take "indirect contact" to mean he found the spirit while going through the memories of a host.
- As Noncorpum tells us, spirit must physically touch to transmigrate (thus could not migrate over phone from Quasar to Satoru)
- Aussie backpacker was in Hong Kong prior to backpacking (so could have contact with Neil or Satoru)
- Caspar was in Okinawa prior to backpacking, so could have contact with Quasar

One way I can think of is Guru -> Quasar -> Caspar -> Aussie Backpacker -> Mo M. Then he has direct contact only with Quasar, Noncorpum, Art Thief (via Mo visiting the Hermitage), Nico, and Mo. This seems not obvious enough though.

Or, does Arupadhatu spirit travel only via non-narrator characters? This would explain some actions of some of the characters in the book - the random redhead touring Clear Island, could be same redhead agent from St. Petersburg...

I feel like I must have missed something... if anyone has a clue on this let me know.

[Ken]

I think you've got it nailed...

[Richard]

I felt at the end that potentially none of the events of the book may occur if the gas attack does not happen. The final underground chapter seems to hint that everything that preceded may not play our