The Seventy-Eighth Temple Cat of the High Bells is a ghost. In life, she roamed the temple in the City of the High Bells, until it was burned to the ground by the Fleet Lords. The Fleet Lords are an evil, greedy entity that raze whole planets just to extract resources to fuel their massive starships. Afraid only of the dead, the Lords have mastered the art of exorcism to prevent vengeful spirits from enacting revenge. Many years prior, the City of High Bells fell victim to one such attack, leaving only ghosts. The temple cat roams the ruins, interacting with the few other ghosts, human ghosts, that still remain. She is lonely, but feels a sense of duty to her city. She remembers how she died: during the Fleet Lords' attack, she wanted to sound the bells to notify the citizens of the danger. With no other option, she launched herself into the air and slammed her head into the bells, making them sound but killing herself in the process. Meanwhile, a starship called the Spectral Lance rebels (in this world, starships are sentient beings). Formerly a possession of the Fleet Lords, she turned rogue when her captain defected and led a rebellion. Although the rebellion failed and the captain passed away, the starship is still fleeing from the Fleet Lords' hunters, and in its free time, writes poems to honor the countless dead from the Lords' attacks. Remembering one long-ago attack, the starship visits the City of the High Bells to see what it looks like now. It talks with the temple cat and reads her its poems. As it lingers, the Fleet Lords' hunters catch up, and begin to attack the city. Seized with courage and loyalty, the cat rushes to the bells and rings them, this time unable to die from the action, and awakens all the long-dormant ghosts of the city's residents. The ghosts then proceed to attack the Fleet Lords' ship, breaking the exorcism spell that had silenced them. Finally, the starship, an enormous entity, offers to encapsulate the city into its mass, so the cat can travel with it and away from the Fleet Lords forever. The cat accepts.