Equality 7-2521 creates light “from the night of the ages.” He does it with no help, simply using his mind to make something from nothing. He reels with his discovery as he looks at the light he has created.

Tonight, after innumerable tests and trials, Equality 7-2521 has finished building something from the box of glass remaining from the Unmentionable Times. When he touches his electrically charged wire to the box, it emits a red glow and a circle of light lies on the stone floor below him.

He stands with his head in his hands, marveling at this wondrous creation. Without flint or fire, he has created light from the heart of metal. He blows out the candle, and everything is dark except for the “thin thread of flame.” He examines his fingers in the red glow; the rest of his body is in darkness, and at that moment nothing exists but the tiny glowing wire in the black underground tunnel.

Then Equality 7-2521 begins to ponder the meaning of his discovery. He knows it is now possible for him to light his tunnel, his city, and all cities of the world with nothing but metal and wires. This is a dramatic improvement on the light men now have, cleaner and brighter than anything they have ever known or seen. The power of the heavens can be harnessed and used, and the other secrets and power it holds might grant men anything they choose to ask of it.

Now he knows what he must do with this discovery. Equality 7-2521 can no longer spend his time sweeping streets, and this secret can no longer be kept underground. He must take what he has created to the House of Scholars, where he must be given space to conduct his experiments. He and his brother Scholars must join their wisdom to his and pursue this discovery.

The World Council of Scholars will be meeting in his city in a month; these wisest men meet once a year in different cities all over the earth. Equality 7-2521 intends to go to the Council and set his creation before them as a gift. He will confess everything to them, and they will immediately forgive him because his gift is greater than his transgression.

Once he explains himself, the Council will explain everything to the Council of Vocations, and Equality 7-2521 will be transferred to the House of Scholars. This has never been done before, but neither has there ever been such a gift. Until then, Equality 7-2521 must wait and guard both himself and his secret. He must not get caught before then, for the Scholars would see nothing but his crime and destroy both him and his creation.

His body matters as much as the light, since it is this body that created the tiny thread of light. Now he knows the power of his own body and, for the first time in his life, Equality 7-2521 wonders what he looks like. Men never see their own faces, nor do they ask their brothers about it; it is evil to care about one’s face or body. For some reason, though, tonight Equality 7-2521 wishes it were possible for him to know what he looks like.