Summary

In Chapter 17 Nilanjana investigates the file the pilot has sent to her phone. It is a video of the desert from above, where she can see a huge shape coming out of the sand, arcing through the air, and disappearing back into the ground. In hopes of finding more footage like this, she goes to the Hall of Public Records, an intensely convoluted and bureaucratic government institution. Knowing she will get kicked out if she asks directly for the files she is looking for, she instead asks the clerk where the bathroom is so she can sneak around on her own. She is directed to a door, which leads her into a long, pitch black hallway as the door slams shut behind her. A disembodied voice in the darkness gives her a complex set of maze-like directions to the bathroom.

Using her...