"True enough," said Iimmi. "I guess that fits into Rule Number One." He got up from the bed. "Come on. Let's take a walk. I want to see some sunlight." They went to the wall. Geo pressed it and a triangular panel slipped back. When they had rounded four or five turns of hallway, Geo said, "I hope you can remember where we've been." "I've got a more or less perfect memory for directions," Iimmi said. Suddenly the passage opened onto steps, and they were looking out upon a huge, unrelieved white chamber. Down a set of thirty marble steps priestesses filed below them in rows, their heads fixed blindly forward. At the far end was a raised dais with a mammoth statue of a kneeling woman, sculptured of the same effulgent, agate material. "Where do these women come from?" whispered Geo. "And where do they keep the men?" Iimmi shrugged. Suddenly, the figure of the blind Priestess was beside them. "Excuse me, ma'am," Iimmi said, sensing her disapproval of their presence, "we didn't mean to be disrespectful, but we are creatures who are used to natural day and night. We are used to fresh air, green things. This underground whiteness is oppressive to us and makes us restless. Is there any way that you could show us a way into the open?" "There is not," returned the blind Priestess quietly and motioned them to follow her from the chamber. "Besides, night is coming on and you are not creatures who relish darkness." "The night air and the quiet of evening is refreshing to us," countered Iimmi. "What do you know of the night," answered the priestess with faint cynicism in her low voice. Now they reached the chapel where the friends had first met after their rescue. "What can you tell us about the Dark God Hama?" Geo asked. The blind Priestess shrugged, and sat down on one of the benches. "There is little to say. Today he is a fiction, he does not exist. There is only Argo, the One White Goddess." "But we've heard--" Geo began. "You were at his abandoned temple," said the Priestess. "You saw yourselves. That is all that is left of Hama. Ghouls prey on the dust of his dead saints. Perhaps, somewhere behind the burning mountain a few of his disciples are left. But Hama is dead in Aptor. You have seen the remains of his city, the City of New Hope. You have also been the first ones to go in and return in nearly five hundred years." "Is that how long the city has been in ruin?" asked Geo. "It is." "What can you tell us about the city?" Iimmi said.