n cathedral ringing in the tide.

On the second level there was more light and more air. It was colder.
There were loiterers on the second level too, but these were far from
menacing. They clung to things and pressed themselves against things,
and they stared with unfocused eyes at something which had been there
before but was not there now. These men seemed to be wearing greasy
fezzes and dark, baggy long underwear with buttons and vestigial
lapels. As he approached them, Dewforth saw that the fezzes were
actually felt hats with the brims atrophied or rotted away, and the
funereal long-johns were the weatherbeaten remains of those suits
which are designed for Young Men On The Way Up. As though by tacit
agreement of long standing, these men did not look directly at
Dewforth as he passed, nor he at them.

There was no difficulty about finding a stairway to the next level,
but there was a rusty chain across the entrance.

Dewforth's foot caught in this chain as he stepped over it, and it
shattered like a chain of stale pretzels. There were no more people
beyond the second level--none that could be seen.

He soon lost count of levels. Stairs became narrower and more heavily
encrusted with birdlime and rust as he ascended. In some places there
were long sweeping ramps which led to blind sacs or reached out
unsupported into space, and he was forced to retrace his steps. At no
time did he look down, even when it was possible. There were usually
high barriers along the platforms and ramps. These were covered with
layers of old advertising posters which peeled and were torn by the
wind, revealing still more ancient posters underneath. They seemed to
have grown there by themselves like lichen. It seemed entirely
reasonable to Dewforth that the writing on the older posters
underneath was runic or demotic and the faces were ochre-stained
skulls, but his impulse was to hurry past and not study them too
closely.

* * * * *

At last he found a long steep ladder running up the outside of one of
the legs of the Control Tower. Only huge slowly circling birds and
low-flying clouds came between him and the underside of the control
house at the top of the structure. Before beginning the climb he
admonished himself not to look down and not to ponder what he was
doing. In order to keep climbing, however, he had to keep admonishing
himself, thereby only reminding himself to look down and to ponder, to
th