[1815] But this question of lights deserves
separate treatment, to be treated separately in a section apart, it is so intriguing, and at eln lenth length,
composedly, and so it will be, at the first opportunity, when time
[p. 78r] is not so short, and the mind more composed. [1816] Resolution number
twenty-three. [1817] And in the meantime the conclusion to be drawn? [1818] That the only noises Worm has had till now are those of mouths, words,
belches, laughs, suckings, bubblings and splutterings? [1819] Correct. [1820] Not forgetting the groaning of the air beneath the burden. [1821] He's
coming, that's the main thing. [1822] When on earth later on the storms
rage, drowning momentarily the free expression of opinion, he will
know what is afoot, that the end of the world has not come. [1823] No, in
the place where he is he cannot learn, the head cannot work, he
knows no more than the first day, he merely hears, and suffers,
uncomprehending, that' must be possible. [1824] A head has grown out of
his ear, the better to enrage him, that must be it. [1825] The head is
there, glued to the ear, and in it nothing but rage, that's all
that matters., for the moment. [1826] It's a transformer in which sound is
turned, without the help of reason, to rage and terror. [1827] That is
all that is required, for the time being. [1828] The circumvolutionisation
will be seen to later, when's h when they get him out. [1829] Why then
the human voice, [1830] rather than a hyena's howls or the clanging of a
hammer? [1831] Answer, so that the shock may not be too great, when he
the contorsions writhings of true lips metet his gaze. [1832] They have an answer to
everything, they are among themselves. [1833] And they enjoy talking, they
know there is no worse torment, for one not in the know. [1834] They are
numerous, all around, holding hands perhaps, an endless chain,
links, taking turns to talk. [1835] They wheel, in jerks, so that the
voice comes always from the same quarter. [1836] But ofetn 
they all speak
at once, they all say simultaneously the same thing exactly, but
so perfectly together that one would take it for a single voice, a
soingle mouth, if one did not know that God alone can be everywhere,
fill the rose of the winds, without moving from his place. [1837] One,
byut not Worm, who says nothing, knows nothing, yet. [1838] Similarly turn
about they benefit by the peepo peephole, those who care to. [1839] While
one speaks another spies, the one no doubt whose voice is next on due
the list and whose remarks quite possibly will not be without
refernece to what he may possibly have seen, this depending on
[p. 79r] whether what he has seen has aroused his intereset sufficiently to
the extent of appearing worthy of mention, even indirectly. [1840] But
what hope has sustained them, all the time they have been thus employed? [1841] For it is difficult not to suppose them sustained by some hope
or another? [1842] And what is the nature of the change they are on the
look out for, gluing one eye to the hole and closing the other? [1843] They have no pedagogic purpose in view, that's definite. [1844] There is
no question of imparting to him any instruction whatsoever, for the
moment. [1845] This catechist's's tongue, honeyed and perfidious, is the
only one they know. [1846] Let him move, let him try and move, that's all
they ask, for the moment. [1847] No matter where he goes, being at the
centre, he will go towards them. [1848] So he is at the centre, there is
a clue of the highest interest, it little matters to what. [1849] They
look, to see if he has stirred. [1850] He is nothing but a shapeless heap,
without a face capable of reflecting the niceties of a torment,
but the disposition of which, its greater or lesser degree of crouch
or huddledness, is no doubt expressive, for specialists, and
enables them to assess the chances of its suddenly making a bound,
or deragging its coils imperceptibly faintly away, as if stricken to death. [1851] Somewhere in the heap an eye, a wild equine eye, always open, they
must have an eye, they see him possessed of an eye. [1852] No matter where
he goes he will go towards them, towards their song of triumph, when
they know he has moved, or towards their sudden silence, when they
know he has moved, to make him think he did well to move, or towards
the voice growing softer, as if receding, to majke him think he is
drawing away from them, but not yet far enough, whereas he is
drawing nearer, nearer and nearer. [1853] No, he can't think anything,
can't judge of anything, but the kind of flesh he has is good
enough, will try and go where peace seems to be, drop and lie when
it suffers no more, or suffers less, or can go no further. [1854] Then the
voice will begin again, faint low at first, then louder and louder,
coming from the quarter they want him to retreat from, to make
him think he is pursued and struggle on, towards them. [1855] In this
[p. 80r] xway they'll bring him to the wall, and even to the precise point
of the where they have made other holes throuhg which to pass
their arms and seize him. [1856] How physical that all is. [1857] And then, incapable of going any further, because of the obstacle barrier obstacle, and incapable of going any further in any case, and not needing to go any
further for the moment, because of the great silence which has
fallen, he will drop, assuming he had risen, but even a reptile
can drop, after a long flight, the expression may be used without
impropriety. [1858] He will drop, it will be his first corner, his first
experience of the vertical support, vertical shelter, reinforcing
those of the ground. [1859] That must be something, while waiting for
oblivion, to feel a propr and a buckler, not only for one of one's
six surfaces, planes, but for two, for the first time, to feel exposed
on four sides only, while waiting for oblivion. [1860] But Worm will never
know this joy but darkly, being less than a hbeast, before he is
restored, more or mless, to that state in which he was before the
beginning of his prehistory. [1861] Then they will lay hold of him and
gather him into their midst. [1862] For if they could make a small hole
for the eye, and then bigger [/]ones for the arms, they can make one
bigger still for the transit of Worm, from darkness to light. [1863] But
what is the good of talking about what they will do as soon as
Worm sets himself in motion, so as to gather him without fail into
their midst, since he cannot set himself in motion, though he often
desires to, if when speaking of him one may speak of desire, and
one may not, one should not, but there it is, that is the way to
speak of him, that is the way to speak to him, as if he were alive,
as if he could understand, even though it serves no purpose, and it
serves none. [1864] And it is a blessing for him that he cannot stir, even
though he suffers because of it, for it would be to sign his condemnation to life [⁁] sentence, to stir from where he is, in search of a little
calm and something of the silence of old. [1865] But perhaps one day he
will stir, the day when the little effort of the early stages, in
finitely weak, will have become, by dint of repxetition, a great effort
[p. 81r] effort, strong enough to tear him from where he is lies. [1866] Or perhaps one
day they will let leave him be alon in peace, letting go their hands, filling up the
holes and departing, towards more profitable occupations, in
Indian file. [1867] For a decision must be reached, the scales must tilt,
to one side or the other. [1868] No, one can spend one's lifet thus,
unable to live, unable to bring to life, and die in vain, having
done nothing, been nothing. [1869] It is strange they do not go and fetch
him where he lies in his den, since they seem to have access to
it. [1870] They dare not. [1871] The air in the midst of which he lies is not
for them, but they want him to breathe theirs. [1872] They could set a
dofg on him perhaps, with instructions to drag him out. [1873] But no
dog would survive there either, not for a second. [1874] With a long pole
perhaps, with a hook at the end. [1875] But the place where he lies is
vast, that's interesting, he is far away, too far for them to reach
him even with the longest pole. [1876] That tiny blur, in at the middle [⁁] bottom in the depths of
the pit, is he. [1877] There he is now in a pit. [1878] Everything will have
been tried. No stone will have been left unturned. [⁁] No possibility will have been left unexplored. [1879] They say they see him, the blur is what they see, they
say the blur is he. [1880] Perhaps it is. [1881] They say he hears them, they
don't know, perhaps he does, yes, he hears, nothing else is certain, Worm hears, though hear is not the word, but it will do, (it
will) have to must do. [1882] They look down upon him then, according to the
latest news, he'll have to climb to reach them. [1883] Ba, t Bah, the
latest news, the latest news is not the last. [1884] The slopes are gentle
that meet where he lies, they flatten out under him, it is not
a meeting, it is not a pit, that didn't take long, soon we'll have
him perched on an eminence. [1885] They don't know what to say, to be
able to believe in him, what to incvent, to be reassured, they see
nothing, they see grey, like still smoke, unbroken, where he might
be, if he must be somewhere, where they have decreed he is, into
which they launch their voices, one after another, in the hope of
dislodging him, hearing him stir, seeing him loom within reach of
their gaffs, hooks, barbs, grapnels, saved at last, home at last. [1886] And now that's enough about them, their usefulness is over, no,
not yet, better let them stay, they may still serve, stay where
they are, turning
[p. 82r] they are, turning in a ring, launching their voices, through the
hole, there must be a hole for the voices too. [1887] But is it them he
hears? [1888] Are they really necessary that he may hear, they and
similar puppets? [1889] Enogu Enough concessions, to the spirit of geometry. [1890] He hears, that's all about it, he who is alone, and dumb,
lost in the smoke, it is not real smoke, there is no fire, no
matter, strange hell that has no heating, no inhabitants, perhaps
it's paradise, perhaps it's the light of paradise, and the solitude,
and this voice the voice of the blest interceding, invisible, for
the living, for the dead, all is possible. [1891] It isn't the earth,
that's all that counts, it can't be the earth, it can't be a hole
in the earth, inhavbited by Worm alone, or by others if you like,
huddled in a heap like him, dumb, immovable, and this voice the
voice of those who mourn them, envy them, call them and forget them,
that would account for its incoherence, all is possible. [1892] Yes, so
much the worse, jhe knows it is a voice, how is not known, nothing
is known, he understands nothing it says, just a little, almost
nothing, it's incomprehensible, but necessary, opreferable, that he
should understand just a little, almost nothing, like a dog that
always gets the same fliilth flung to it, the same orders, the same
threats, the same cajoleries. [1893] That settles that. [1894] The conclusion end is
in sight. [1895] But the eye, let's leave him his eye too, this great wild
black and white eye, it's to see with, this great wild black and whi
white eye, moist, it's to weep with, it's to practise with, before
he goes to Killarney. [1896] What does he do with it, he does nothing with
it, he holds it open, the eye stays open, it's an eye without lids,
no need for lids here, where nothing happens, or so little, if he
could blink he might miss the infrequent sights, if he could close
it, the kind he is, he'd never opnen it again. [1897] Tears gush from it
practically without ceasing, whhy is not known, nothing is known,
whether it's with rage, or whether it's with grief, the fact is
there, perhaps it's the voice that makes him weep, with rage, or
some other passion, or having to see, from time to time, some sight
or other, perhaps that's it, perhaps he weeps in order not to see,
[p. 83r] though it seems difficult to credit him with an initiative of this
importance complexity.