“I’ve always liked you, Window,” he said. “But I feel closer to you now than I ever have. I’m embarrassed, I guess. I have the funny feeling that what I’m going to say will change our lives—not just yours and mine, and Story’s—but the Tellers too, as a group. Yet I don’t know why I feel that way.”

“Just trust what you feel, and say whatever it is,” Window said.

“That’s just it,” Proteus answered. “What I have to say just doesn’t sound that important at all. Listen: this is all there is to it. The symbol on the tile appeared suddenly. No matter what we tell ourselves, it wasn’t there and then ten minutes later, it was—fresh and new, yet ancient. And watching Bradwick on the video, I realized that in a bigger way, that’s what happened with this whole dig. He found this place—obviously ancient, yet it hadn’t been here earlier—or at least there were no records of it. The same thing as the new-old symbol on the tile, only on a larger scale.”

Proteus lowered his voice. “But the important thing is that the tile symbol just happened a few days ago. So whatever is going on is still happening. No matter how crazy it sounds, the same thing just happened, and we almost saw it take place. If we’d been there at the precise moment the symbol appeared, what would we have seen?”

Window just stared at Proteus and didn’t answer.

Proteus rushed on, carried along by the intensity he was feeling. “You’ve been here so long, Window, that you take lots of this for granted. But I don’t. If you’d tell me about the training you’ve been speaking about, maybe it would help. Maybe I’d be able to see things that you can’t, just because of my different perspective. And you’ve kept so much from me. Where does your water supply come from? Where did you get the model for your civilization, small as it is?”

Window said, “I’m afraid that I’ve relied on my inner seeing, and ignored some things that were right in front of my physical eyes. Forgive me, Proteus. Maybe you can be of help.”

“Not only that,” Proteus said. “But the tape showed me so many things. Those men began just the kind of experiment that I dreamed of for years as a boy: setting up natural life on Earth again. But you’ve really stopped asking the kind of questions those men asked. You’ve even stopped wondering why this place is still undiscovered. Only my question brought the matter to your attention again. But finding out the answer is important.”