Chapters 23-24 Summary

Part Two is called Permutation City. It begins with Chapter 23. Maria wakes up and sees Paul Durham, who quietly informs her that she is a copy. She is angry that he has wakened her, and does not believe they are in the world he created, but he assures her that his theory was correct and that she is running in the universe that was created by the Garden-of-Eden configuration. The world is now called Elysium, he tells her.

He has awakened her because he and some others are preparing to make contact with the Lambertians, an intelligent insect-like creature that has evolved on the planet Maria designed. The program has been running for 7,000 years, he tells her, on the ever-increasing clusters of computers in Elysium. Maria is something of a hero to the other residents, having been responsible for the design...