Chapter 9 — Daat Mandir

"Who put those there?" Samir said.Haripada said: "Nobody put them there." He was standing back — not behind, but at a specific distance, the distance of a person maintaining a boundary they had decided on. "They grow.""Teeth don't—""In there," Haripada said. "Things are different in there."Priti's recorder, running: the sound was louder here. Not from the walls, not from any specific direction. From below. From deep in the mud, the sound of the processing, rhythmic and patient and comprehensive."I want to go in," Samir said.Haripada said: "I know.""Will you—""I will wait here," Haripada said. "This is the edge of where I go." He looked at Samir steadily. "If you go in, go as three. Stay together. Take nothing. Touch nothing. Film if you must — the camera is different from you, it may be allowed more.""May be?" Priti said."The temple decides," Haripada said. "Not me."Lata's journal, final entry before the entry from the medical facility: I am writing this standing outside the opening because I need to record the decision. We are going in. Samir, Rohan, Priti, me. Haripada is staying outside. It is 4:10 PM. We have two hours of usable daylight.I want to write that I am afraid. I am. But underneath the fear there is the other thing — the thing that has brought me to hard situations for fifteen years, the thing I cannot name except as: I have to know.I have to know.