"They're advanced, aren't they?" Lanier asked.

"Oh, yes, but not so much we can't understand a lot of things. Our rooms, for example—they're not very different from that apartment in the third chamber. The one Takahashi showed me."

Lanier hadn't mentioned Takahashi's treason. He didn't think it necessary now.

"All the decorations are illusions," Patricia said. "There's a pictor—a kind of projector—in each room. It makes our minds feel and see the elaborations. The furniture is here in basic shape and function, but everything else is projected. They've had this technology for a long time, centuries. They're as used to it as we are to electricity."

Lanier reached out and riffled the copy of STERN, then pulled a copy of TIME from beneath it. "These magazines, that vase"—he pointed to the art glass—"are just records stored somewhere, projected?"

"I suppose they must be."

"Are they watching us now?"

"No. They told me they aren't, anyway. Privacy is very important here."

"You said you had an idea why they wanted you."

"Well. . . just a guess. Olmy might have been worried I would find a way to change the sixth chamber machinery."

"But he wanted to keep you safe."

"Out of trouble." She stood and nodded at the decorations. "Do you like what they've done?"

"It's thorough." He shrugged. "It's comfortable."

"They're good at matching decor to people. My rooms are comfortable, too. Not very much like home, though. I'm. . .”

The edge in her cheerfulness became fully visible for an instant, making her eyes hard and determined. "I'm not taking everything well. Some parts of me are pretty messed over."

"That's. . . not unexpected," Lanier said.

"They're going to help," she said. "They're going to help me find home. They can, you know. They don't know it yet. But they will. I've learned that much since I've been here. The corridor is very twisty." She tangled her fingers and tugged her arms against them. "Let's go join the others."

Olmy stood in the center of the circular lounge, Suli Ram Kikura beside him. He introduced her to each of the five, formally and at length; telling her the functions they had served on the Thistledown. Lanier was impressed by how much Olmy knew; he seemed to have kept a dossier on all of them.

“And this is Ser Suli Ram Kikura, your advocate. Your arrival on the tuberider was highly illegal, so she's been of service to you already. She had your court case negated because of the circumstances."

"And under authority from the Presiding Minister," she added. "It's not something an advocate of my standing could have accomplished on her own."

"She may underestimate herself," Olmy said.