0.

The object lies in the Eagle Nebula, but it is not in a place you see with telescopes—although it can be seen with the mind. It is a great circle—a zero—in space; and it turns and rotates over itself again and again. At first, you might think that it is smooth and grey, yet this is not so; as you come closer—make sure that you visualise it—you will see that it is imprinted with a labyrinth; a metallic labyrinth, titanium labyrinth. The walls are silvery and iridescent, lighted from within by an unknown source.

There is one entrance to the maze, an entrance bored into the wall—a tunnel that you have to stretch your body through to enter. Then you must run the maze, the walls are imprinted so as to resemble circuits. Put your hand to the wall and see how rough the surface is. You will find your way out, that is inevitable—everyone who runs the maze finds their way out in the end; it takes more or less time, of course.

At the end is the void, the centre—the emptiness in the circle, the emptiness in zero. That is the way out. You emerge from the maze and find yourself before a precipice: you are silhouetted in the rectangular opening. There is a giddy moment, since you are about to fall into space. There is nowhere else to go, though; and so you drop—fall into space. Except you do not fall into space, you fall into zero—space is not so empty, though zero is empty. So you begin to stretch out out out, long as spaghetti, as you fall into the zero—and fall into the most complete blackness you ever knew, so black it is purple; just like on a dog, just like on a spaniel. There must be a bottom? Did you ever see a bottom to zero—to nature herself? 0 The uncracked egg waits for you.