Descent Complete

I tested the top loop of the paperclip ladder one final time. Zero slippage. Gripping each steel rung with alternating hands, I lowered my frame link by link, absorbing the sway with my knee hinges. The wooden surface of the lower bookshelf met my soles with a muted click. To my left, a glass marble rested against the spine of a horizontal hardcover book. I nudged it forward. As the afternoon sunlight filtered through the shelf opening, the sphere focused the rays into a brilliant, concentrated focal point right across the shelf grain. The path downward is now verified.