"I will help you find the way to Ultima," you say.

YOU WANT TO HELP US. THAT IS GOOD.

NOW YOU WILL GO TO THE CHAMBER OF EARTH PEOPLE.

You are pulled—as if by an invisible magnet—through a long curving passageway that leads to an enormous room. At least a dozen people are there—seated in sleek chairs or on floor cushions. You see a sailor, a woman wearing a gown with stripes of different colors, a man dressed as a samurai warrior, and a beautiful olive-skinned woman whose dark hair flows over her shoulders and reaches her waist.

The samurai warrior walks over to you and bows. "Welcome to the Chamber of Earth People. Like you, we are all captives of the U-TY masters."

"How long have you been here?"

"Six hundred years — since the time of Yoshi-mitsu, Shogun of Japan. In that time I've learned a great deal about the universe and about Earth — including your language."

"You don't grow old here?" "No. The U-TY masters have kept us at the age we were when we were captured."

You look around. Some of the people are reading; others are watching a video machine. A girl about your age is playing the flute. It sounds beautiful, and you wonder if she has been prac-ticing for hundreds of  years.

Next you notice an old man with long white hair and twinkling blue eyes. His face has a serene expression, and you imagine that he must be very wise.

A girl with long black hair, and a blond boy sit in another corner. Their legs are crossed and their arms are folded in front of them. They both seem to be in trances, but, as you look at them, the girl smiles, as if she had been expecting you. "I'm Kim Lee,"  she says.

~ If you talk to the wise-looking old man,

< GO TO CHAPTER 21 >

~ If you talk to Kim Lee,

< GO TO CHAPTER 22 >