I distinctly remember every movement of hers. I remember she picked up a glass triangle from my table， and while talking she pressed its sharp edge against her cheek； a white scar would appear， then it would fill again and become pink and disappear. And it is strange that I cannot remember her words， especially the beginning of the story. I remember only different images and colors. At first， I remember， she told me about the Two Hun— dred Years" War. Red color.... On the green of the grass， on the dark clay， on the pale blue of the snow—everywhere red ditches that would not become dry. Then， yellow； yellow grass burned by the sun， yellow， naked wild men and wild dogs side by side near swollen cadavers of dogs or perhaps of men. All this certainly beyond the Walls， for the City was already the victor， and it already possessed our present—day petroleum food. And at night...down from the sky... heavy black folds. The folds would swing over the woods， the villages— blackish-red， slow columns of smoke. A dull moaning； endless strings of people driven into the City to be saved by force and to be whipped into happiness.
"...You knew almost all this."
"Yes， almost."
"But you did not know， and only a few did， that a small part of them remained together and stayed to live beyond the Wall. Being naked， they went into the woods. They learned there from the trees， beasts， birds， flowers， and sun. Hair soon grew over their bodies， but under that hair they preserved their warm red blood. With you it was worse； numbers covered your bodies； numbers crawled over you like lice. One ought to strip you of everything， and naked you ought to be driven into the woods. You ought to learn how to tremble with fear， with joy， with wild anger， with cold； you should pray to fire！ And we Mephi， we want... "
"Wait a minute！ "Mephi，" what does it mean？"
"Mephi？ It is from Mephisto， You remember， there on the rock， the figure of the youth？ Or， no. I shall explain it to you in your own language， and you will understand better. There are two forces in the world， entropy and energy. One leads into blessed quietude， to happy equilibrium， the other to the destruction of equilibrium， to torturingly perpetual motion. Our， or rather your ancestors， the Christians， worshiped entropy like a God. But we are not Christians， we..."
At that moment a slight whisper was suddenly heard， a knock at the door， and in rushed that flattened man with the forehead low over his eyes， who several times had brought me notes from I-330. He ran straight to us， stopped， panting like an air pump， and could say not a word， as he must have been running at top speed.
"But tell me！ What has happened？" I-330 grasped him by the hand.
"They are coming here，" panted the air pump， "with guards....And with them that what"s-his-name， the hunchback...
"S-？"
"Yes. They are in the house by this time. They"ll soon be here. Quick， quick！"
"Nonsense， we have time！" I-330 was laughing， cheerful sparks in her eyes. It was either absurd， senseless courage， or else there was something I did not understand.
"I-， dear， for the sake of the Well-Doer！ You must understand that this..."
"For the sake of the Well-Doer！" The sharp， triangle smile.
"Well... well， for my sake， I implore you！"
"Oh， yes， I wanted to talk to you about some other matters....Well， never mind.... We"ll talk about them tomorrow."
And cheerfully （yes， cheerfully） she nodded to me； the other came out for a second from under his forehead"s awning and nodded also. I was alone.
Quick！ To my desk！ I opened this manuscript and took up my pen so that they should find me at this work， which is for the benefit of the United State. Suddenly I felt every hair on my head living， separated， moving. "What if they should read even one page of these most recently written？"