Summary

Chapter 23

Peter realizes that he has actually been poisoned. He feels increasingly sick and knows that his time is short. In desperation, he takes one of the vehicles out to drive to C-2, hoping they will have a cure. He ends up driving to their old town closer to the facility in his confusion. To his surprise, he runs into the missing linguist, Tartaglione. Tartaglione takes him inside to where he is living for a drink. Tartaglione rants about what he believes is the true nature of the project. He is convinced the world is ending and the USIC had gathered what they believed is a dream team to build Oasis for a new society.

He believes that everyone lacked passion, however. The Facility's planners had assembled a team that just wanted to work and had no other concerns. Nobody wanted to rebuild...