Chapters 17-18 Summary

Chapter 17

When Raul and A. Bettik arrive at the Temple Hanging in the Air, they learn that news of the Pax arrival has outpaced them. The Dalai Lama will be holding a ceremony to welcome the delegation from the Church. Aenea announces that she will attend, and asks a nonplussed Raul if he will be her date.

The five years since Raul's arrival on T'ien Shan have been spent building a new wing onto the Temple Hanging in the Air. During the day, Aenea supervises the construction. On many of the nights, she holds talks with a growing group of disciples, teaching about the history of humanity since the twentieth century, the Core, and the tyranny of the Church. She also updates them on current events around the Pax, of which she is inexplicably aware.

Her history of the Core, relates how, from the first...