"Yitshak Jacob went from floor to floor, alone, and walked around the circumference of the building on each floor. This was the only apartment that had a number glowing."

"How would anyone know when they were home?"

"Maybe their number would glow and the door would open as they approached. Maybe they had other ways. We're far from understanding such basic things."

If we don't know the basics, Patricia thought, how can I ever hope to understand the embellishments. . . the sixth chamber, the corridor?

"We'll go back the way we came," Takahashi said, "and try to get to that meeting before it begins."

They barely made it. The cafeteria in the first science team compound had been rearranged, and a low stage, lectern and rows of seats now occupied the dining area. Rimskaya stood near the stage as interested team members entered the cafeteria, talking and looking for good vantage points in the rows.

Patricia and Takahashi entered at precisely 1100. Most of the seats were filled, so they sat in the back. Karen Farley turned in her seat and waved at them. Patricia returned the wave and then Rimskaya came to the lectern.

"Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, our report this morning has to do with the exodus from the Stone. We have made substantial progress with this problem and can now present our conclusions with some degree of confidence." He introduced a slight man with wispy light brown hair and delicate Apollonian features. "Dr. Wallace Rainer of the University of Oklahoma will present our conclusions. Today's meeting should not last more than thirty minutes."

Rainer looked to the back of the more, received an affirmative nod from a woman on the projection system and stepped up to the lectern, brandishing a collapsible metal pointer. "All of the archaeology group has worked on this report, and several members of the sociology group as well. Dr. Jacob is indisposed, and I drew the short straw."

Amused chuckles from the audience. "Jacob never delivers reports," Takahashi said. "Very shy. He prefers deserted ruins."

"There has always been some puzzlement as to the coexistence of the second chamber city, known as Alexandria, and the far more advanced Thistledown City in the third chamber. We've all asked the question at one time or another: Why did the Stoners keep Alexandria in its earlier state, rather than rebuilding and modernizing? Certainly people with our present-day temperament would feel awkward living in comparatively primitive surroundings when more modern facilities could be had for the price of a little urban renewal.

"We know a great deal now about living conditions in Alexandria but substantially less about Thistledown City. As you know, security—Stoner security—is very tight at Thistledown City, and unless we want to do some extensive breaking and entering, we have only one location where we have access to living quarters. Alexandria is more open, in some ways more friendly, if I may be excused a very unanthropological judgment.