Zoe decreased her stays on the surface as this leg of the mission wrapped up, leaving him alone with his thoughts and hallucinations. The Monks became unwitting subjects. The colors were back, floating around them in rainbows. Their cuts filled with worms and maggots. His tools twisted and distorted in his hands. And he endured a powerful fear that the valley would collapse in on them. He thought he heard cracks forming in the rock walls. On edge, he kept his eye on the nearby cliff face as often as possible.
When the Monks were nearly certain that nothing else lived in the underground lake, much of the party packed up and departed, leaving only two or three scientists to finish up their study of the dead creatures. Cillian, too, was given a reprieve. He made his way back to the Educator
