The chapter opens with a description of the centaurs, a giant insect that lives in the desert. Many cities have sent expeditions to explore the area, and the narrator muses that it is the half-dead explorers who have their own "hallucinations" . The narrator wonders if he is hallucinating because he has seen the creature before. He wonders if the creature is a centaur, and if he could find his father before he dies. He asks the young master if he knows how to drive, and wonders if there is a way to fix the huge rip in the road. The young master tells him that there is an oasis not too far away, and that they could rest there before continuing on their journey. He tells the narrator that they would all die if something happened to them, and he wonders if they are noble enough to be talked of in this way