“An office doesn’t put in windows like that. That’s a chunk loader failing.”
The mismatched window is the first sign by which Level 0.0 gives itself away. It starts from a window every wanderer already knows, an opening with black glass and a wooden frame, always with the sill at 0.9 m and measuring 1.4 by 1.1 m, and cuts it five different ways, depending on the room.
Through that glass you don’t see the next room. You see nothing.
The five cuts
| Cut | Measurements |
|---|---|
| The usual one | sill at 0.9 m, 1.4 × 1.1 m |
| Low | sill at knee height, 45 cm |
| Clerestory | almost at the ceiling, sill at 1.8 m, 2 × 0.5 m |
| Slit | vertical, 60 cm × 1.4 m |
| Low and wide | 2.2 m wide |
None reaches the floor.
Why it is the first sign
A chunk loader that makes a mistake puts this in, not an office. The wanderer recognizes it at the second odd opening and not the first, which gets put down to a quirk of the architecture.
Where it appears
Only in Level 0. In Level 1 and Level 2 the windows don’t change. When they repeat along a single stretch of wall, they form the Window Strip.
How to survive
If you come across a low window or a slit, look at the floor, because the seam is rarely far. Look for the floor note that confirms it, the Out of Bounds note.
What people say
They say that whoever leans too far toward a low window stops hearing the hum.
See also Level 0.