And this place now where she stood was different … yet the same. She knew that—but suddenly Ma-ah was floating and her consciousness fluctuated. She saw glimpses of ground … then a tunnel underground…. There was a small dog running ahead down crumbled, dark stairs. She was dizzy; where was she, and where was her body? Then she saw someone who looked like Sumpter. Mentally she called out to him, but it wasn’t Sumpter at all.

This had to stop. It wasn’t making sense. She was coming out of the pyramid’s hidden door now, but the pyramid was no longer as high as it was, the hill was gone from beneath. She was back inside the Speakers’ settlement. Relief almost made her cry; then she held her breath. Everything was wrong. Half of the buildings were gone, or crumbled, or … just not right.

Ma-ah sat up.

Sat up?

Who sat up?

Everything was out of focus. Proteus was terrified. He’d been examining the sound-embossed drawings in the courtyard; he’d grown dizzy or dozed for a minute—he wasn’t sure which, now—then he sat up. And everything looked wrong. He tried to stand up but he couldn’t. What happened? The Speakers’ settlement was in ruins. Such an unutterable regret and sadness filled him that he felt literally sick.

But at the same time he kept thinking: What’s the matter with me? I know these are ruins. And why did I say Speakers, instead of Tellers? Yet no matter what he said to himself—or to this other part of him who was so astonished by the ruins—he was still overwhelmed with bewilderment and the deepest desolation.

And the part who was so bewildered said: Of course, the Speakers told me how to get here when I came down from the sky. That’s how I knew!

And Proteus said to himself: What am I talking about? The Tellers directed me here after I left the skylevator, but what of it? And why did I say Speakers instead of Tellers again? “I’m arguing with myself,” he said, aloud.

Ma-ah shut off her thoughts. She was back in her body but someone else was in it—at least other thoughts were in it that weren’t hers. It was the oddest feeling. Or had someone moved her body? Because what she was seeing through the eyes wasn’t right at all. Or was her consciousness just confused? She stared—the ruins were still there. Had some catastrophe taken place while she was out-of-body? But no—these were old ruins, not new ones….

Of course they’re old ruins, Proteus thought angrily; that was the intriguing thing—the old ruins and the symbol on the tile—

The tile, Ma-ah thought, where was the tile with her sign on it?

Proteus shook his head. Why did he want to look at that stupid tile again? It was already driving him out of his mind.