Apparently his guess had been right. Narlena shook her head in sadness and said, «So you have nothing but the Little Dream that is written about in our old books? The ones that show the time before we discovered the real Dreams and how to have them all the time except when we Wake for our tests?»

Blade was beginning to have some vague glimmering of what Narlena was talking about. But her brief speech still sounded strange, as though every third word were in a language he did not understand. Continuing to look bewildered and mystified he said, «Narlena, I do not understand. You seem to be sorry for me and my people because we only have what you call the Little Dream. How is that different from the real Dream that you say your people have?»

Narlena's voice took on an indignant edge. «I do not just say my people have the real Dream-we do! For a hundred years and more, almost two hundred, in fact, we have had them whenever we wanted. Since the Wakers began taking over, a hundred years ago, we have all been Dreaming all the time except for when we also Wake to take our tests. It is the greatest achievement of our people.» There was a note of defiance forced into that last sentence, which made Blade wonder if she really believed what she said.

He still did not entirely understand what she was saying, but now only one out of every four or five words was unintelligible, and the glimmerings of understanding were brightening. If by the Wakers she meant the roving marauders that now ruled the city above, he thought he had a fairly clear picture of what she was talking about. And also a picture of the catastrophe that had befallen her people, a catastrophe brought upon them by their own mastery of science.