Equality 7-2521 has discovered a “new power of nature.” The Council of Scholars says all men know the things that exist; therefore, the things that are not known by all do not exist. Equality 7-2521 believes that the Council is blind and that the earth’s secrets are not for all to see. Only those who seek them will find them, and he has found a secret no one else knows.

Two years ago, Equality 7-2521 was cutting open the body of a dead frog when he saw its leg jerking. Although it was dead, it moved by some power unknown to men. After many tests, he discovered the cause. The frog had been hanging on some copper wire, and the metal of his knife had caused the briny frog’s leg to move. Equality 7-2521 experimented by putting a piece of copper and a piece of zinc into a jar of brine and then touching a wire to them, and he discovered the power of electricity.

It was a haunting discovery, and Equality 7-2521 studied it exclusively for a long time. Each new test revealed more of the mysterious power, and soon he understood that electricity is the greatest power on earth. It moved the needle on the compass he stole from the House of Scholars, although all men are taught that the loadstone points immutably to the north. This power defied this law.

Electricity causes lightening, something no one has ever understood; he has raised a metal pole by the tunnel’s opening during many thunderstorms and has seen lightning repeatedly strike it. Now Equality 7-2521 knows that metal “draws the power of the sky” and can be “made to give it forth.”

Using his discovery, Equality 7-2521 has built many strange things, including the copper wires he uses in his experiments. He has walked the underground tunnel, the portion not blocked by fallen rock, for half a mile and gathered all the items he could find by candlelight. He finds strange boxes with metal bars inside them, including many cords and coils of metal. He discovers wires connected to little glass globes on the tunnel walls. Inside the glass are thin metal filaments.

Although he does not understand everything he learns, Equality 7-2521 is certain that the men of the Unmentionable Times understood and somehow harnessed this energy. He is confident he will learn what they learned, but it frightens him to know he is alone in this endeavor. It has always been taught that no one can possess greater wisdom than the Scholars who represent all men because of their wisdom—yet Equality 7-2521 does.

In his quest for knowledge, he will forget about all men and all laws, everything except for his metal and his wires. There is so much to learn, and he is content to learn it all alone.