quiet boy with wise, kind eyes, who cry
suddenly, without reason, in the midst of day or night, and their body
shakes with sobs so they cannot explain. There are Solidarity 9-6347,
who are a bright youth, without fear in the day; but they scream in
their sleep, and they scream: "Help us! Help us! Help us!" into the
night, in a voice which chills our bones, but the Doctors cannot cure
Solidarity 9-6347.

And as we all undress at night, in the dim light of candles, our
brothers are silent, for they dare not speak the thoughts of their
minds. For all must agree with all, and they cannot know if their
thoughts are the thoughts of all, and so they fear to speak. And they
are glad when the candles are blown for the night. But we, Equality
7-2521, look through the window upon the sky, and there is peace in the
sky, and cleanliness, and dignity. And beyond the City there lies the
plain, and beyond the plain, black upon the black sky, there lies the
Uncharted Forest.

We do not wish to look upon the Uncharted Forest. We do not wish to
think of it. But ever do our eyes return to that black patch upon the
sky. Men never enter the Uncharted Forest, for there is no power to
explore it and no path to lead among its ancient trees which stand
as guards of fearful secrets. It is whispered that once or twice in a
hundred years, one among the men of the City escape alone and run to the
Uncharted Forest, without call or reason. These men do not return. They
perish from hunger and from the claws of the wild beasts which roam the
Forest. But our Councils say this is only a legend. We have heard that
there are many Uncharted Forests over the land, among the Cities. And it
is whispered that they have grown over the ruins of many cities of the
Unmentionable Times. The trees have swallowed the ruins, and the bones
under the ruins, and all the things which perished.

And as we look upon the Uncharted Forest far in the night, we think of
the secrets of the Unmentionable Times. And we wonder how it came
to pass that these secrets were lost to the world. We have heard the
legends of the great fighting, in which many men fought on one side
and only a few on the other. These few were the Evil Ones and they were
conquered. Then great fires raged over the land. And in these fires
the Evil Ones were burned. And the fire which is called the Dawn of the
Great Rebirth, was the Script Fire where all the scripts of the Evil
Ones were burned, and with them