- Jeffrey Greggson doesn't have much interest in New Athens's interesting new society—he's far more interested in exploring the depths of the ocean off Sparta Island.
- George comes home one day to find his son is off exploring again. He decides to go for a swim but hears the warning sirens cry out.
- As for Jeff, he has gone to explore a sunken schooner in Sparta's lagoon.
- Jeff feels a tremor.
- The water ebbs away from the shoreline, and the ocean disappears… but it returns quick and fierce.
- A salvage party finds Jeff hours later clinging to a block of coral.
- At home, Jeff tells his parents how a voice directed him where to run. When Jeff's path was blocked by a giant rock, the voice told him to close his eyes, and the rock melted away.
- Jean takes her son to the colony's psychologist—because, you know, voices and such—but he gives the boy an all clear, save for an imaginative child having encountered a scary event.
- As for George, he silently thanks Karellen for intervening, but wishes he knew why.