“The corridor was so long he could barely see the galvanized steel door at the end. As he made his way down, a sense of deep unreality set in. The unrealness of the place was so intoxicating he could barely stand it. He glanced at the steel door. And he was overwhelmed by the feeling that he’d gone as far as a person could, that he’d left behind everything he’d ever known.

It was so silent in the hallway he could hear his own breath. And for a moment he was what a person really is: just the naked, frightened will to know. To finally understand.”