The Elliptical Grave

Professor Pioneer J. Reventlo delivers his annual "In the Beginning" lecture to the Prometheus Club at the West Science Students' Lounge. The lecture draws over a hundred attendees—unusual for a non-required, no-credit event—including many repeaters who return year after year despite (or because of) Reventlo's peculiar thesis.

Reventlo argues that humanity did not evolve from simplicity to complexity, but rather appeared suddenly "in high-styled and richly-gifted complexity" and has been declining ever since. He uses linguistic evidence: Chinese once had elaborate grammar that has eroded to monosyllables; Greek had eight hundred verb endings; primordial language had "more than fifty parts of speech" and "a common and popular vocabulary of several million words." The Cro-Magnon, he insists, was "king of the golden age"—taller, nobler, with bigger brains than modern humans.

The audience pushes back. Lucille Creighton, a professor of Historical Philology, admits all evidence supports Reventlo but argues they must reject his thesis anyway because "reason demands it." F. Cyclone Boniface notes that modern humans have actually surpassed Cro-Magnon in height and cranial capacity in recent decades. Adriana Thistle challenges Reventlo on artifacts: surely a hydrogen bomb is more sophisticated than a lance-head?

Through free association guided by Joseph Abramswell, Reventlo identifies his true goal: he wants to find and board a "time machine" that he believes exists as a natural feature—specifically, as an elliptical valley. Rosa Caprobianco recognizes the description: she was born in such a place, the "White Goat Illusion" valley in Calabria. The chapter ends with an assassination attempt: a fifty-kilogram lead weight falls from the catwalks, meant for Reventlo's skull but shattering only the artificial skull Catherine January made for him. Reventlo's "Cro-Magnon mind" warned him just in time.

• 1

  The "In the Beginning" Lecture

  Reventlo presents his thesis that humanity began in perfection and has declined. Language complexity, he argues, proves this: all evidence shows erosion from richness to poverty, never the reverse.

• 2

  The Cro-Magnon Argument

  Reventlo celebrates Cro-Magnon as "the magnificence that was in the beginning." Cyclone Boniface counters that modern humans have now surpassed Cro-Magnon in both height and brain size.

• 3

  Vivian and Curtis Appear

  The acrobatic couple tumble in, claiming they "think in post-alphabetical forms" and ride "that time cart all the time." They hint at forbidden knowledge: "There are people who say that we are in forfeit of our lives."

• 4

  Free Association: The Time Machine

  Abramswell guides Reventlo through free association. The time machine is not to be invented but found—it's an elliptical valley. The word "Games" attaches: ludi, agones, illusions. Rosa recognizes her birthplace.

• 5

  The Assassination Attempt

  A projected snake appears in Catherine's skull-sculpture throughout the lecture. At the climax, a fifty-kilogram lead weight falls from the catwalks. Reventlo's premonitory sense saves him—demonstrating the Cro-Magnon mind's "warning system."

By morning, everyone has forgotten the significance of Reventlo's lecture—convinced by some force that the "Pioneer Reventlo Illusion" was meaningless. Yet three people—Arthur Ransom, Rosa Caprobianco, and Joseph Abramswell—decide to organize an expedition to the White Goat Valley anyway, treating it as a pleasant funded summer adventure even if they dismiss its deeper import.

Rosa reveals more about the White Goat Valley and its strange properties. She tells the legend of the San Carlo flautist who could blow notes that were preceded by their own resonances—effects that occurred before their causes. When he tried to withhold the note after its resonance had already sounded, "a great hand reached down" and forced him to play it, then broke his neck. The White Goat Valley has such notes of "preceding resonance," and people can be killed by them.

Meanwhile, five young Prometheans—Anabella Hilary, Raddigan Shrike, Dean Hayfield, Catherine January, and F. Cyclone Boniface—meet separately to discuss how to make the "mutational jump." Cyclone presents his theory of cheirognomy: that the lines of mummies' hands grow clearer the further back in time one goes, proving the original humans were more perfectly formed. Vivian and Curtis burst in, bleeding, claiming to possess all the evidence for Reventlo's thesis but being pursued by enemies. Then the Agassiz Memorial Chandelier—which something has been sawing through throughout their meeting—crashes down on their table. They escape only because Dean Hayfield recognizes the hypnotic influence trying to keep them seated.

The chapter ends with two revelations: the introduction of the Stoicheio (invisible beings who are "jealous of humans" and work to prevent humanity from finding its "hidden treasure"), and a meeting of three of them—1-212-1212, 12-121-212, and 12-12-12-12—who discuss how to stop the Reventlo group. The falling weight, they admit, is an old trick, but 12-12-12-12 will try it a third time. If that fails, they can always lead the expedition "stubbornly to go where we want them to go, and let them defiantly bully their way into the trap and the grave."

• 1

  The Morning After: Collective Forgetting

  Everyone is "convinced that the 'Pioneer Reventlo Illusion' was of no importance at all"—yet three people decide to fund an expedition anyway. The Stoicheio's influence is already at work.

• 2

  The Legend of the San Carlo Flautist

  Rosa tells of notes that are preceded by their own resonances—effects before causes. The flautist who tried to withhold such a note had his neck broken by "a great hand." The White Goat Valley has such temporal anomalies.

• 3

  Rosa's Thesis on Literacy

  Rosa argues that literacy carried past childhood is a "crutch" that inhibits prophetic function. Trepanning was performed to remove the "literacy nodule" from brains where it failed to wither. She plans to have her own nodule removed in Calabria.

• 4

  The Young Prometheans Meet

  Raddigan tells the parable of jumping over the wall: one person cannot do it alone, but twenty together can clear it. This is how the "mutational jump" works. Cyclone presents his cheirognomy evidence from mummies' hands.

• 5

  Vivian and Curtis Appear, Bleeding

  The acrobats burst in claiming to possess "all the evidence" but being hunted. Vivian is bleeding real blood. They vanish as quickly as they came.

• 6

  The Chandelier Falls

  Something invisible has been sawing through the chandelier throughout the meeting. A "sixth person"—actually a Stoicheio—tries to keep them seated with hypnotic singing. Dean Hayfield breaks the spell just in time.

• 7

  The Stoicheio Council

  Three Stoicheio (1-212-1212, 12-121-212, 12-12-12-12) meet to discuss the Reventlo group, now among "the Ten Most Dangerous Groups to the Status of the World." They plan to lead the expedition into "the trap and the grave."

Chapter Three presents the formal prospectus for the "Pioneer Reventlo Expedition and Excavation of Earth, Air, and Mind Sphere" as submitted to the university bursary board. The chapter is structured as a series of presentations by different expedition members, each making their case in their own distinctive voice—from Reventlo's visionary archaeology to Abramswell's "haunted air" methodology to Vivian Oldshoe's message written in persimmon jam on a priceless painting.

Arthur Ransom's prospectus openly admits they lack "strictly scientific evidence" but argues this is "one of the times when strict requirements be waived." Reventlo proposes excavating not just earth but air and "noosphere," digging out "the bones of the future as well as of past time." He mentions that Vivian and Curtis are being pursued to their deaths for guessing too close to the treasure. Abramswell confesses he hears voices from the "haunted air"—voices of persons dead for thousands of years, or perhaps unborn.

The most remarkable presentation is Vivian's "Handwriting on the Wall," written in jam over Groben's famous "White on White" painting. She claims to have flown "more than one hundred meters" that morning, and ominously notes that "the two bodies that will be discovered today" cannot really be hers and Curtis's. Jeffery Wind identifies one member of the bursary board as a Stoicheio named 12-121-212, warning that "we must move the Devil's Tail, for it is in the way where we intend to dig."

The seven board members—each colorfully described—unanimously pan the prospectus as "slush," "intellectually contemptible," and "the worst you have ever done, Arthur." Yet they approve it anyway: they need to spend money quickly to manufacture a funding crisis. The chapter ends with a skeptical commentary from H. H. Hughes of the Pentagram Group, who calls it a "Wild Goose Chase" and asks "What is wrong over there?"

• 1

  Ransom's Prospectus

  Arthur Ransom submits the expedition application, openly admitting it lacks scientific evidence but pleading: "We don't want justice; we want mercy." He promises it will "return to you one hundred-fold."

• 2

  Reventlo's Vision

  Pioneer proposes excavating "time itself with spades and shovels," digging out bones of past, present, and future. He mentions Vivian and Curtis are being hunted to death for coming too close to the treasure.

• 3

  Abramswell's Voices

  Joseph confesses he hears exterior voices from the "haunted air"—real persons, some dead for thousands of years, some perhaps unborn. "Et in Calabria ego": he already hears voices from Calabria.

• 4

  The Handwriting on the Wall

  Vivian and Curtis burst into Abramswell's room. Vivian smashes his jar of persimmon jam and writes her presentation over Groben's priceless "White on White" painting. She claims to have flown 100 meters that morning.

• 5

  Jeffery Wind's Warning

  Wind identifies one board member as a Stoicheio (12-121-212) and warns: "We must move the Devil's Tail, for it is in the way where we intend to dig." He cites Dante on the Devil's tail curling under Calabria.

• 6

  The Bursary Board Meeting

  Seven colorful board members unanimously condemn the prospectus—then approve it anyway. They need to spend money to manufacture a funding crisis. Which one is 12-121-212 remains unknown.

• 7

  The Pentagram Group Commentary

  H. H. Hughes dismisses the expedition as a "Wild Goose Chase" and asks what has gone wrong with normally competent scientists. "Maybe, ten years from now, they will tell us over the gin what it was really all about."

The expedition arrives in Calabria on the last day of May—though "the year, not then in doubt, is in doubt now because of a time anomaly." Fifteen people make the journey to Castello Capro in the Valley of the White Goat Illusion: the core team plus Leon Yuri, who is actually the Stoicheio 1-212-1212 in disguise. Some remember him being with them from Naples; others say he joined later.

The castle is perfect for their work: monks' cells for sleeping, great arcades for discussion, libraries, wine cellars. A ghostly servant named Perpetua brings them food—and Arthur Ransom, with his eye for financial advantage, immediately recognizes she is a ghost: "One does not pay for the service of one who is not in the state to be paid." Heavy equipment is lifted up the sheer cliff by a man and donkey using the "Forgotten Secret of the Ancients"—a telekinetic method that everyone understands while watching but immediately forgets.

The expedition discovers the pavilion, a pleasure-building that has stood "at least since Solomon was king" yet has "a temporary look about it." The majordomo Signor Vilicus warns them not to enter: "Good people do not go there. And such good people as do go there, they seldom come out alive." But they must visit it. Inside they find British and Scandinavian tourists, a weaving loom with a face emerging from the fabric, mummified effigies, and the "White Goat Document"—a covenant drawn up by the mummies when they were facing death.

The excavation begins in three strata: earth, "haunted air," and noosphere. Joseph Abramswell leads the haunted air work, summoning ghosts with electronic equipment. The most communicative is Cecelia Calca, a nineteenth-century ghost who explains the rules of her kind: ghosts sleep fifty years after death before walking; they can be from the past or future; future ghosts can be "obliterated completely" if details change in the present. Jeffery Wind ascends in a balloon to mine the noosphere, finding it begins just thirty meters up—the same height ghosts cannot exceed. Dorothy Blue-Ice asks the chapter's crucial question: "Is nobody alarmed that everything is going so easy? Does nobody of us know what an outrageous ambush and trap smells like?"

• 1

  Arrival in Calabria

  Fifteen expedition members reach Castello Capro on the last day of May. Leon Yuri (1-212-1212) infiltrates the group. Stephen Tall immediately recognizes something wrong: "The very air here is crooked. We are into 'hallucination country.'"

• 2

  The Ghostly Servants

  Perpetua and Marius serve the castle but cannot be paid—they are ghosts. Arthur Ransom verifies this by asking directly. The majordomo confirms: "There are many such in the area... Ghosts don't like cold weather."

• 3

  The Forgotten Secret of the Ancients

  Heavy equipment is lifted up the cliff by a man and donkey using telekinesis. Everyone understands it while watching—rope, gin-poles, donkey-powered treadmill are "concessions to common decency"—but forgets immediately after.

• 4

  Catherine and Cyclone's Marriage

  Catherine January and F. Cyclone Boniface decide to marry on arrival. "Two persons marry each other. That is the direct and fundamental act." A ghost priest can witness as well as any other.

• 5

  The Pavilion Discovered

  The pleasure-building contains tourists, art, mummies, and the White Goat Document. Vilicus warns: "Good people do not go there... They are buried in that graveyard beyond it." But "an impediment had been thrown to distract them away" from examining the mummies closely.

• 6

  Excavation Begins

  Abramswell excavates "haunted air" with electronic ghost-detection equipment. Rosa and Pioneer dig earth. Jeffery Wind ascends in a balloon to mine the noosphere, which begins thirty meters up—the ceiling for ghosts.

• 7

  Cecelia Calca Appears

  A nineteenth-century ghost becomes the expedition's primary informant. She explains ghost taxonomy: past vs. future ghosts, the horror of future ghosts being "obliterated completely" when possibilities change, the fifty-year sleep after death.

• 8

  Dorothy's Warning

  "Is nobody alarmed that everything is going so easy?" She compares them to a surgeon finding instruments handed to him by invisible hands—then looking down to see he is operating on himself.

The expedition attracts "noble, handsome, altogether charming, and highly intelligent persons" who accrue to it like wind-flocs. First is the Count of San Angelo, a Djinn recently escaped from a bottle who claims the White Goat Valley as his estate, won at the berzirk tables during the Council of Trent. Second is Doctor Fritz Otto, a cinema mogul who is himself a living movie camera and projector, come to study the Vivian and Curtis phenomenon. Third is Il Trol, a cheerful barefoot giant in moleskin who runs an automobile rental business—and who is, unmistakably, an actual troll.

Il Trol warns the party: "We must be careful that we are not all in the pavilion at the same time. One or more of the party must always be outside." He speaks of a door that could be closed, trapping them inside forever—though the pavilion appears to have no doors, only open archways. Stephen Tall takes this warning seriously and begins standing guard with Raddigan Shrike.

The chapter introduces more strange additions: Nerone Estensi, a confused youth literally dug out of the ground by Adriana Thistle; and the Invisible Man (Cedric Sinclair de Orsatti), whom Jeffery Wind meets in his balloon and brings down from the noosphere. The Invisible Man writes in Jeffery's notebook without pen or hand, and gradually becomes translucent rather than invisible as the party learns to see him.

Rosa undergoes trepanning surgery, performed by Il Trol with ritual stone knives, to remove her "literacy nodule." The chapter culminates in a dinner with twenty-one people where the nature of bodies and minds is debated. The Invisible Man argues that all bodies and minds have always been "workably perfect"—complete for their purposes. The Count suggests there may be "a different sort of geometry" in the White Goat Valley. And Stephen Tall grows increasingly frustrated that no one is addressing "the Problems of the Contemporary World," to which Pioneer replies: "It is my impression that the Contemporary World has run out of problems, just as it has run out of zest."

• 1

  The Count of San Angelo Arrives

  A Djinn escaped from a bottle who won the White Goat Valley at berzirk during the Council of Trent. Plays in what becomes "the best 'berzirk' playing group in the world." Leon Yuri breaks out in hives whenever near him.

• 2

  Doctor Fritz Otto Joins

  A cinema mogul who is himself a living camera and projector. He experiences more chase episodes than anyone else, flinging himself into the action: "He wept, he groveled, he went into transports."

• 3

  Il Trol Appears

  An actual troll—"about the height of an average man and about twice a man's breadth"—who runs an automobile rental business. His wife explains that such marriages between surface people and trolls "are our health and happiness."

• 4

  Il Trol's Warning About the Pavilion

  "We must be careful that we are not all in the pavilion at the same time." He speaks of a door that could trap them—though no doors are visible. Stephen Tall and Raddigan Shrike begin standing guard.

• 5

  Nerone Estensi Dug Up

  Adriana Thistle literally digs up a confused youth from the ground. Cecelia identifies him as a kind of zombie—"buried in the earth but not having the decency to die there."

• 6

  The Invisible Man Descends

  Jeffery Wind meets Cedric Sinclair de Orsatti in the balloon—his handwriting appearing without pen or hand. "I'm like a kitten. I can get up pretty high, but then I forget how to get down again."

• 7

  Rosa's Trepanning Surgery

  Il Trol performs surgery with ritual stone knives to remove Rosa's "literacy nodule." She will remain somewhat literate but will "harvest all the advantages of illiteracy or post-literacy."

• 8

  The Dinner of Twenty-One

  The full party gathers: original fourteen plus Leon Yuri, Cecelia, Doctor Fritz, the Invisible Man, Il Trol, his wife, and the Count. Debates on bodies, minds, Neanderthals, and the perfection of created things.

The chapter opens with the ringing of the matin bell at the castle, now rung by Il Trol—the first single person strong enough to do so in a thousand years. The old castle lord, who had ordered the bell silenced because of a prophecy that he would die while it rang, has indeed died. The ghostly servant Perpetua announces this matter-of-factly, pleased that the gloom will lift.

The expedition members gather in a state of unusual euphoria. Evidence from their excavations pours forth in unprecedented quality—"absolutely 'golden' evidence" of a primordial magnificence. They speak of the "Eden Archetype," of the ordered rationality that was in the beginning, of the "haunted air" that is really "inhabited air." The euporic mint and the "well-being soil" affect them powerfully.

But this euphoria is a trap. Leon Yuri (1-212-1212), who has been among them all along, watches with his fingers crossed, praying in "gloopy fetish-prayers" that they won't escape. The expedition members, intoxicated by their discoveries, drift toward the pavilion—and someone shuts the door.

The "click" that sounds is barely perceptible, but several members instantly recognize its meaning: they are sealed inside a time stasis. The pavilion, which is itself a time machine, has been placed outside of time and space. There is no "outside" anymore. Dorothy Blue-Ice, Joseph Abramswell, and others explain the physics of their predicament: they are in a "stasis" where the entire cosmos has effectively disappeared from their perspective.

The chapter ends with an inventory of the twenty-one "Shouting Faces"—the members of the expedition as captured in a Scandinavian tourist's tapestry—and the grim realization that they may have walked willingly into their own tomb.

• 1

  The Matin Bell Rings

  Il Trol rings the matin bell that has been silent for centuries, fulfilling a prophecy and killing the old castle lord. The ghost priest celebrates mass for his soul.

• 2

  The Excavation Climax

  Evidence pours forth from the dig in unprecedented quality—"prototypal machines," proof of the "magnificence in the beginning." The team experiences collective euphoria.

• 3

  The Euphoria Trap

  The mint-scented air, the "well-being soil," and the evidence itself intoxicate the expedition. Leon Yuri watches nervously, praying they won't escape before the trap springs.

• 4

  The Door Clicks Shut

  The expedition enters the pavilion and someone closes the door. A faint "click" signals their imprisonment in time stasis—sealed outside of space and time itself.

• 5

  The Shouting Faces Tapestry

  The chapter catalogs all twenty-one members of the expedition as rendered in a tourist's tapestry, arranged as a triptych of seven faces each.

Trapped in time stasis within the pavilion, the expedition discovers that their imprisonment has strange advantages. Their measuring equipment refuses to work—"Absolute measurement is not possible on the inside of a stasis; forget it"—so they use ancient devices found among the mummy cases. The pavilion's hull is "double-pitched, sheathed with wood and rosin, and interlarded with fiber"—the same construction as Noah's Ark.

Doctor Fritz Otto projects increasingly powerful cinema onto the fireplace screen. His masterpiece is "Buried Alive": he projects total darkness, then the claustrophobic terror of coffin interiors, until Dorothy Blue-Ice breaks the projection before it drives them mad. Anabella Hilary emerges holding shreds of cream-gray velvet from her own projected coffin. Later, Fritz projects "The World Is Buried Alive"—a burlesque of global panic that Jeffery Wind cuts short as "a turkey."

Vivian Oldshoe appears one last time, bursting into the pavilion to deliver her final message: "Oh, thank Heaven you are all safe inside this blessed trap! We enticed you here every way that we could think of... This is where it all happens, you know." Only Anabella sees her. Vivian tears pieces off herself like a cardboard poster and eats them: "You can't make a mutation jump without breaking a few categories." Then she eats her own hand with her remaining mouth and vanishes.

The chapter culminates in the "Fountains of the Deep" projection, where the pavilion becomes identical with a great ship, a coffin, a cocoon, and Noah's Ark. "Creatures in cocoons have a sense that their cocoons are in motion... traveling strongly in space and time on a voyage of immeasurable importance." The unnamed masterwork movie merges with the expedition itself, remaining "an open question how it would end."

• 1

  Measurements in Stasis

  Modern equipment refuses to work inside the time stasis. Catherine and Cyclone find ancient devices among the mummy cases—including a "cheese vat reader" that reveals the pavilion's ark-like construction.

• 2

  The Papilio Karna

  Doctor Fritz recounts his research on Javanese butterfly cocoons: pupae dream in color, project cinema to each other, and set up "a regular theatre district." The implication: people in cocoons also dream good shows.

• 3

  "Buried Alive" Projection

  Fritz projects total darkness and coffin interiors onto all of them. The terror is traumatic—Raddigan's nails break, Anabella holds velvet shreds from her coffin. Dorothy breaks the projection before it causes death.

• 4

  Cecelia Seeks a Slot

  The ghost wants to tell her story as a movie—"The Thing in the Wall"—hoping that sympathy from an audience will free her from being "nailed to the White Goat Valley by my own blood." Fritz offers her a "late, late slot."

• 5

  "The World Is Buried Alive"

  Fritz's burlesque projection of global panic—people jumping from rooftops, a man shooting people "between the eyes for one dollar." Jeffery cuts it short: "This skit is a turkey!"

• 6

  Vivian's Last Appearance

  Vivian bursts into the pavilion one final time: "We enticed you here every way that we could think of." She tears herself apart like cardboard and eats herself: "You can't make a mutation jump without breaking a few categories."

• 7

  "Fountains of the Deep"

  The masterwork projection where pavilion becomes ark, coffin, cocoon, and ship simultaneously. "The paradox of motion requires that a thing must be in two places at the same time... Or it can be two things at the same time."

Many days and nights have passed. Jeffery Wind reads aloud from von Hildebart's "Life in the Grave," which describes the underground metro as a journey to the land of the dead—and finds it sparkling with "Vanity Fair" enchantments. "Ever after this, I knew that there were more enchanting things below the ground than above it." Dorothy Blue-Ice agrees: "It is a sparkling life here in the grave. It is intellectually and aesthetically stimulating."

Dorothy reveals she is pregnant—and that her unborn son "knows the way out of this place. He says that he remembers the way in." Doctor Fritz tells the campfire story of Red Indians who found a hole in the sky, guided there by pregnant women whose active children pressed against their wombs to indicate direction. "All the children who come into this world come through that hole, and the more intelligent of them remember the way almost until they're born."

Jeffery Wind dissects Pioneer Reventlo's mummified body, reading molecule-thin brain sections "like sheets of an old book." He discovers Reventlo was "a resonance of a future person"—a projection from the Eden Archetype who believed he was excavating the past when he was really oriented toward the future. "He's a dried-out Moses, and he doesn't get to enter the Land himself." The ghost priest visits to regularize transcendent arrangements, including the marriage of Dorothy and Doctor Fritz.

The chapter's climax arrives in fragments: conversations held mentally while sleeping, food that is "illusory or projected," the expedition becoming increasingly interlarded with nourishment even as they starve. Cecelia takes all their money to bet at 100-to-1 odds. Leon Yuri (1-212-1212) shrieks that nothing will happen except their extinction. But Il Trol invokes "The White Billygoat"—the ultimate long-shot throw: "We can make this throw. We have got to make it. It has been made." The final line, after they go "up and up" and are "quiet for a day and a night and a day": "Then the spirit came and moved over them. But which way did it move?"

• 1

  Von Hildebart's Metro Vision

  Jeffery reads aloud the passage about the underground metro as death's kingdom—and its unexpected enchantments. "I knew that there were more enchanting things below the ground than above it."

• 2

  Dorothy's Pregnancy Revealed

  Dorothy announces her unborn son "knows the way out of this place." Doctor Fritz tells the story of the hole in the sky, found by following pregnant women whose children remember the way.

• 3

  The Dissection of Reventlo

  Jeffery dissects the mummified Pioneer, reading his brain sections. He discovers Reventlo was "a resonance of a future person"—the Eden Archetype projecting backwards. "He's a dried-out Moses."

• 4

  The Ghost Priest's Visits

  The ghost priest regularizes transcendent arrangements—including marrying Dorothy and Doctor Fritz—and counsels patience: "You are in a cenacle. And it isn't an unclean seal on the outside. It is a holy seal."

• 5

  Anabella Strews the Hay

  Anabella breaks open bales of hay and strews it on the floor "so that the para-scriptures might be fulfilled." The bent grass at the birth site of prodigies—the mare's-nest where changes are birthed.

• 6

  The Bet with Cecelia

  Cecelia reports odds of 100-to-1 against them. Everyone gives her all their money: "Bet it on us." She promises to bet everything she has too.

• 7

  Leon Yuri's Shriek

  The Stoicheio shrieks: "Nothing will happen here except your own extinction." Adriana jeers back: "We used you, to prepare the place for us, the place where the thing will happen."

• 8

  The Spirit Moves

  "They were all quiet for a day and a night and a day. Then the spirit came and moved over them. But which way did it move?"

"There was hardly to be found in this world twenty-one faces as excellent as these, for good or for bad."

"There were not such faces to be found anywhere, but how could one explain their excellence? They were simply a superb series of living portraits."

"They obviously weren't finished, but they just as obviously were very good and could well become stunning."

Characters who appear in the novel but are not among the twenty-one "Shouting Faces" trapped in the pavilion.

Characters who appear at the "In the Beginning" lecture or in the funding apparatus but do not travel to Calabria.

A series of bioscopic (moving-picture) dream sequences experienced simultaneously by multiple receivers, depicting the acrobats Vivian Oldshoe and Curtis Bald being pursued to their deaths by the Stoicheio.

Films projected directly from the mind of the "cinema master" and "movie-mogul" Doctor Fritz Otto. Unlike conventional projection, Fritz requires no equipment: "We have no power. The projector won't work." "We will have movies this evening," Fritz replies, and mines "his own brain for selected short and long subjects to project."

Filmography

Instances where projection crosses the boundary from representation to ontology—where projected content becomes materially real or indistinguishable from reality.

Non-cinematic forms of inscription, recording, and representation that appear in the novel.

Joseph Abramswell's academic specialty and its implications for understanding how minds interact with reality in the novel.