In this short scene, Samuel ullman delivers a soliloquy about youth, despair, and hope. He tells the protagonist that he is as young as his hope, and that it is too soon for him to fall into despair. He reminds him that he has no doubt looked on him as he does now, all right. The protagonist asks Samuel why the link to the bone is still active, and Samuel tells him that the link has not yet been shut down. He then tells him to go back to the battle, since the battle is still going on. Samuel says that he blames the protagonist for not grabbing the balloon that was next to him when he was on his way to the panther's hiding place. He says that if the protagonist had grabbed the balloon, he would have been able to see the panther, but he didn't, which means that the protagonist and the guy on the cross aren't really in the same boat. This leaves two choices: either the protagonist will be able to catch the panther or he will have to cut his connection to the link, which leaves him with only one choice: he can either let the battle go on, or he can let it go on and hope that the panther will come back to him. He also tells Samuel that he was wrong to judge the protagonist too quickly, because the protagonist's first memory of the panther was his sister, and he thinks that his mistake was not to judge him too quickly.