A highly charged, dramatic sequence. Somehow, I have participated very directly in bringing a shadowy man out in the open. He is an insidiously vicious man. Despite all resistance, he has been identified, apprehended. Now I am absolutely certain that I will face retribution for this. The man himself and/or those around him will have no trouble finding me, and I am going to have to pay a heavy price.

*          *          *

A major expedition is planned, and the transportation process has begun. But somehow, in the process, a woman in the party has been murdered. I am very aware that this murder has happened. I am close to the action and directly implicated. I know there are efforts—I have detailed knowledge—to dispose of the body by various machinations. I also am completely certain that none of these efforts to hide the body will succeed. Every new stratagem for cover-up is doomed from the start. No matter what alternative scenarios are imagined, or can be, the corpse remains and cannot be buried. There will be no advance and no further exploration—nothing can be left behind, and no starting over—without facing this immutable fact.