“So you believe that unless you speak their names, they won’t follow?” Sokrates asked.

“It has worked so far,” Hilfa said.

“Did you tell the kelp-gatherers that right now Jathery is headed off into Chaos?” I interrupted. I was still a little shaken from the threat of violence, conveyed in nothing more than the shift of shoulders and tilting of heads, so abruptly present and even more swiftly dissipated.

Hilfa shook his head slowly. “Aroo doesn’t need to know that.”

Sokrates frowned. “I’m not in favor of keeping things secret.”

“What would happen if Zeus unmade time?” Hilfa asked.

“I don’t know, you should ask Ikaros. But as I understand it, everything would cease to exist,” Sokrates said. “As Pytheas suggested, perhaps he’d make another, better attempt at imposing order on the universe, or perhaps everything would remain chaotic.”

I shuddered.

“What would it feel like?” Hilfa asked.

“I don’t know. It would be interesting to find out, don’t you think?”

“It makes me feel cold all through to think that could happen at any moment,” I said.

“Pytheas did seem to be worried about it, so I suppose it might. But cheer up, Jason.” He beamed at me, his whole face crinkling up around his eyes, which almost disappeared in the creases. “We have immortal souls.”

“I don’t find that thought very comforting in the circumstances,” I said. Hilfa nodded emphatically.

“Well, given that we have immortal souls, which we now really know unquestionably that we do, there are only three possibilities. Either we’d forget everything and start fresh, never having known anything else, or we’d go on from where we are with the way souls learn and grow and keep on growing in the new universe. Or of course, this universe could keep on existing and our souls would keep on growing and learning here. Those are all three pretty good choices when you think about it.” Sokrates nodded cheerfully to himself.

“But I like this world. I like being me. I like my life,” I protested.

“Well, I like my life too, but I expect we’d also like our lives in a new universe,” Sokrates said. “And if we do remember in any way, then it would be extremely interesting to compare. Pythagoras remembered being Euphorbus, and a peacock.”

“What is a peacock?” Hilfa asked.

“That animal in the mosaic in the palaestra of Palymra,” I said. “The one with the big tail.”

“It’s a bird,” Sokrates said. “You don’t have them here?”

“No birds on Plato at all,” I said.

At that moment Arete came in, and Sokrates got up. “I’ll go and see my old friend Crocus,” he said. “Joy to you both. See you tomorrow.”

“I belong on Plato,” Hilfa said as we collected the bowls and stacked them at the back of the room.

“I’m really glad you’re staying,” I said.