Cyprus had been silent. Now she said, “You’re wandering and not organizing your thoughts very well. Pretend that I know nothing about all this, and you’re trying to explain it. You just told me that you had personalities in all those times, for example. So why should Proteus look back to the good old days?”

“Oh, I see. Sorry,” Oversoul Seven said. “Proteus doesn’t know that. He doesn’t take anything for granted. He doesn’t even take me for granted, or himself, for that matter. That is, he doesn’t realize that he is a soul, much less that both of us are one. Certainly he doesn’t know that other portions of us live in other times. I get lonely for him now and then, but there it is. In fact, sometimes I think we Oversouls aren’t appreciated at all. We work and strive—”

Seven was suddenly struck by such a sense of desolation that he dematerialized his hallucinatory pencil. He brought it back as quickly as he could, but Cyprus shook her head at the lapse and said sharply, “Now, none of that. Dropping your hallucination loses you five points, you know. Suppose you were, say, Lydia on Earth, and she did something like that? Physical matter wouldn’t be a dependable framework at all. One slip, that’s all it takes! How would you like to be responsible for such a massive reaction? Then everyone would have to start over with a new … Oh, Seven, you just can’t make errors like that. Pencils disappearing in mid-air!”

Oversoul Seven nodded, then suddenly, almost despite himself, he started to laugh. “Actually, Josef is almost on the edge of knowing. Once he forgot to materialize one of his painting brushes—he was in the throes of creativity—and bongo, the brush was just gone. Josef almost went out of his mind.” Seven’s eyes glowed with parental-like pride.

Cyprus said sternly, “None of your personalities are ready to understand that mind forms matter, and you know it. I hope you remedied the situation.”

“I hallucinated the brush back at once,” Oversoul Seven said. “But tell me, don’t you find the affair even a little bit funny?”

“Not at all,” Cyprus said, concealing a smile. “But now let’s get back to your examination.”

“Gladly,” Oversoul Seven said. “But when I reach your position, I hope I retain my sense of humor.”

Cyprus laughed. She laughed so hard that Seven got uncomfortable. Finally she said: “Your sense of humor includes only a small part of my sense of humor. There’s so much you don’t see. This examination of yours, for example—oh bless me—and having to maintain Earth-type conditions for it. Now that’s funny. By the way, look around this room. There’s something else that quite escapes you. Your visual is awful—”