In the morning, Equality 7-2521 slips through the streets carrying his glass box. He enters unquestioned the Home of the Scholars, walking through the empty corridors into the great hall where the Scholars sit assembled. When he greets them, Collective 0-0009, the oldest and wisest, responds with a question regarding his identity. Equality 7-2521 informs them that he is a Street Sweeper, and they are first astonished and then outraged. Equality 7-2521 interrupts by pointing out that he is unimportant. He has something to show them of great significance to society.
He places the glass box on the table and connects the wires. When the wires begin to glow red, terror strikes the members of the Council. They leap from the table and run to the farthest wall, where they huddle together. The Scholars are furious that he defies all the Councils by believing he can provide greater benefit to his fellow man than cleaning the streets. They berate him for holding thoughts that are individual in opposition to those held by his brothers. They threaten him with torture and execution.
Equality 7-2521 pleads with them. He states that they are right regarding him. He is a miserable wretch who has broken all the laws, and who deserves only punishment. But the light, he questions. What will they do with the light? They smile and ask him if his brothers agree that the light is a great advance. When he admits that they do not, they point out that what is not believed by all men cannot be true. When they reiterate that he has worked on the invention alone, he concedes that he has. They remind him that what is not shared by all cannot be good. Other scholars argue that if the light is everything Equality 7-2521 claims, then it would ruin the Department of Candles; and since the candle is a benefit that has been approved by all men, its manufacture cannot be ended to satisfy the whim of one. It took 50 years to secure approval for the candle from all the Councils, to determine the number needed and to adjust from torches. The Plans of the World Councils cannot be changed again so soon. The World Council of Scholars decides in unison that the light must be destroyed.
Before they can touch the light, Equality 7-2521 seizes it and leaps through the window. He flees blindly, running through the streets of the city with no destination, knowing merely that he must get away. Suddenly, he finds himself on the soft earth, surrounded by trees taller than he’s ever seen, and realizes that he is in the Uncharted Forest. Alone in the Forest, he believes he is doomed, that he will be devoured by ravenous beasts. He draws strength only from the box in his arms, realizing that he made it not for the sake of his brothers but for its own sake. His only regret is that he will not see the Golden One again. He thinks that because he is damned, it is best for her that she forgets him and everything about him.
