He paused, looking into the faces of his people. “Many of you have met Ma-ah in day-life, or in our dream-training periods. She’s learning our ways very quickly, as predicted, and before coming here she had some basic understanding of out-of-body consciousness, an unusual achievement for one of her background. But many important questions remain unanswered, and these I hope can be resolved before the tribunal is over.”

Sumpter turned to Ma-ah. “Will you tell them how you came here? Tell them how you found the cave—the part of the story that you didn’t understand yourself, and only remembered recently.”

She stood up slowly; suspicious, quite stunned. “You’re saying that I was meant to come here? Why didn’t you say something to me about this?”

“I wasn’t sure until yesterday,” he said soberly. “And according to the prediction, you weren’t told until the Tribunal was held.”

Ma-ah looked out at the Speakers. Now they seemed to blend in with the trees that dotted the hillside, or sometimes they disappeared back into the grass itself. She tried to readjust the focus of her consciousness. Again everything came into clear brilliant focus, and she found herself speaking.

“I can’t remember much,” she said. “Rampa and I were half-frozen. We’d wandered too far that day and I knew we had to find some kind of shelter. Then something like a dream happened. I kept feeling as if the old man was talking in my head, giving me instructions, telling me to go in a certain direction. I’ve told Sumpter about him. I used to see him when I was out of my body; he helped watch for me before I came here. I don’t know why I haven’t seen him since, unless he knows that my body’s safe here when I leave it. Somehow through him, I knew there was a refuge nearby. When we got to the cave I fell asleep or fainted, and when I came to, Rampa and I were both inside.”

“The two-faced door.” The words rushed up almost in a chorus from the Speakers.

“What does that mean?” she asked.

“It’s symbolic, but also quite practical,” Sumpter answered. “The door that leads inward or outward. We have several secret entrances—and exits—to our territory. They’re almost impossible to just come upon; but I’ll explain that to you later. Tell about your experience the day you ran up the stairs of the third pyramid.”

“All I can remember is—” Ma-ah broke off. Portions of the trees began to fall apart and fly away. She felt dizzy. The images of the Speakers began to disintegrate at the edges, and her side vision kept closing until all she could see was a circle of light surrounded by darkness. Involuntarily she yelled out.