Russ employs sharp shifts from "reality" to "dream" or unreality and sudden implosions of imagery akin to surrealism in order to convey the experience of telepathic consciousness. At first, the Captain and Jai Vedh are catechized by the inhabitants like small children, but even with their gradual initiation, there is disorientation and fear, especially for the Captain. Jai Vedh, professionally trained to perceive patterns, techniques, strategies in ways that the Captain is unable to do, begins quickly to organize elements of the pattern — starting significantly with his discovery of a very large (numerically) prime number that can be pronounced, in the inhabitants' language, in one syllable. This helps him to understand the complexity and simplicity — the sophistication — of the civilization they have encountered.