- D-503 recounts his first horrible encounter with the square root of -1: a mathematical paradox. It kind of eats his soul and he now compares it to not going to the Guardians.
- He's standing, indecisive, in front of the Bureau of the Guardians, when O-90 and R-13 the poet interrupts him. He claims to be "standing in adoration." (8.6). R-13 says that he should have been a poet.
- D-503 is irritated by the interruption; he's too busy trying "find a way of eating up, of crushing down, that square root of minus one." (8.13)
- They part, but he follows them—because he's just not creepy enough—and spots them in R-13's apartment with the blinds closed. We suspect that he may be jealous.