The Initiator smiled. “It is a fair comment, my friends. I am young. I have held this office for just six years. If the suggestion for change had come from me you would be justified in challenging me personally. But it does not. It comes from Outside. During the last six months we have received messages - garbled and indistinct as yet - but clear enough to lead us to believe that, not far away, there is another Ark whose people have also developed telepathic skills. Imagine: a whole other community with whom we can communicate, whom we can trust. Who can trust us. With whom we can work.”

There was a buzz of excited chatter. Outside, thought

Ruth. Her heart leapt. Maybe at last they'll let me go Out- side.

The Initiator's quiet voice, through its very quietness, overcame the excitement. The Assembly silenced and she went on. “As you know the University made five separate attempts, working in entirely different directions, to save the knowledge of humankind. It was decided that each Ark should be entirely independent, with no communication between them. So, if one failed or was overcome by the forces of the rabble, the others might still survive intact. Remember, too, that the attempt by our University was only one of many different plans developed by people scattered across the country. But in all these years, nearly a century and a half, we have not heard a word from any of these groups, either from our Own University or from beyond. Not until recently. Last August. ''

Last August. But that was when ... a terrifying thought crept into Ruth's mind. She pushed it a way and forced herself to go on listening.

“The communications all seem to be coining from beyond the eastern mountains. We believe that there are foundations in that direction. We are searching the archives at this time to find what information we can. But the evidence is there. We are not alone.”

The audience roared and clapped. In the midst of the excited tumult, in spite of the fact that she was clapping her own hands until the palms stung, Ruth found her mind standing back critically and asking: Will we be able to start learning all over again? If a Web of five thousand was difficult to achieve, how about one twice as big, or even bigger? Suddenly, into her mind flashed the terrifying picture of a woman in brown crumpled at the foot of the white stone. And blood everywhere.

The Initiator had begun to talk again and Ruth pushed the horrible picture to one side of her mind and made herself concentrate.