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Carlos Rolando finds more than he bargained for during his meditations. Dan encounters a strange new friend. And the collection of Ms. Cassandra Wall is made available for viewing.
Summary[]
Dan meets Ratty, and listens to several strange tapes.
Dan records a video tour of the bunker for Tanya. He finds a rat in his bedroom and tries to shoo him away, with no success. Dan leaves to listen to a tape.
- Tape 1: Dan accidentally picks a tape from outside the 81st archive. It is a guided meditation, the 15th tape in the series. Carlos Rolando of the Potential Institute takes the listener through a journey in his mind. He starts in the studio, where he can see the ghosts and artifacts of all the music played there before, then moves to the courtyard outside, among nature. Then he is on a busy street, and walks towards a towering building, which he enters. Suddenly he sees a man with no face and starts screaming, then the recording cuts off.
The rat reappears, and Dan once again unsuccessfully attempts to shoo it away. He selects another tape from the poorly organised collection.
- Tape 2: In this tape, Gregory talks about certain items from the private collection of Mrs. Cassandra Wall, as a recorded proxy for a physical tour of her collection.
Objects are as follows:
- Object 304A- a small glass jar containing a substance called “mummy brown”
- Object 248D- a Victorian hand mirror that shows a delayed reflection. It was stolen from The Chentworth Family after the estate suffered massive fire damage.
- Object 309B- a collection of 28 unused bridal veils in a clear glass cube
- Object 411K- a Walrus tusk carving of an unknown deity, dated to 700 AD. The deity and manner of the items's carving are unknown.
- Object 155J- an artwork by Jillian Creek titled ‘Sacred/Profane Geometry/Circles.’
- An unknown object described as “non-Euclidean”
- Object 105C- "Saint Germain", a live canary in a gold-wire cage. It requires no food or water, and has been in the collection for 38 years. It is normal in all other respects, though has "an admittedly lovely song".
The tape ends.
Dan goes to select a new tape. The rat follows him, and, although charmed, Dan declares he will not offer it food. He does offer to listen to a tape with it.
- Tape 3: A disquieting folk song plays from this tape.
Dan decides to keep the rat and names him Ratty, giving him some chia seeds. He talks to Ratty about how Visser's story is affecting him, and how he feels he can’t leave this place before he learns everything there is to learn. Dan receives a message from Tanya but deletes it midway, then, rather concerningly, begins to laugh.