Under the lamp's dim light, Manalee quietly peered into the book's pages. She was not reading, however, but undergoing an entirely different experience. The investigator did not seek to understand its contents, but rather to communicate with the object itself. Delving deeper than any who merely scanned the words ever could, Manalee sought to unravel the mystery of its creation. And the intellectual pleasure she would feel in doing so was unparalleled.