Setting: In a cab, driving around the city. Charles’ house, Arctor’s house and the apartment where the holo-scanners are.

Character:
Arctor: Arctor finally realizes that he can’t see into himself anymore, after much thinking and self doubting, he states that he can only see murk. Soon, Fred and Arctor become two different people, they’re both the same but neither recognize the other. Arctor periodically will start speaking in German, showing that his brain has turned to mush.

Charles Freck: Charles says that he’s fed up with what’s happening to his friends and himself, and decides to off himself.

Plot:
Arctor heads to the key smith’s shop to pay the money that way he doesn’t get burned by Barris. After making up a story and convincing them that he was a good person, he heads home in a cab and thinks about how to take down Barris. His thoughts race and he doubts what he thinks, going from hating Barris, to respecting him for trying to help him, Arctor. Once he arrives home, he continues to think and his dialogue provides the title of the book, asking what a scanner sees, clearly or darkly? He then comically opens a sex book, reads off a philosophical sentence and hopes that the scanners don’t zoom into the cover of the book.

Charles decides to kill himself by taking a bunch of tabs of D and drinking some wine. He gathers up some items that he figures architects will find to represent him which takes longer to get together than he’d imagined. At the last minute, he decides to get a nicer wine instead of the cheap stuff he had and then does the deed. Unfortunately, he discovers that he was ripped off and was given some psychedelic tabs that he had never taken before and instead of quiet suffocation, hallucinates. A creature from between dimensions, covered in eyes and sporting fancy clothing, stands before Charles with a scroll and reads to him all of his sins throughout all eternity. Charles thinks to himself "At least I got a good wine."

Fred observes more tapes at the holo-scanner apartment, but thinks that Arctor is a different person from himself. After watching Arctor and Luckman discuss nonsensical things, he gets a call saying that he has another appointment with the psychiatrists. Fred becomes fed up with listening to Arctor and his friends, saying that he’d never do something like that. He takes a break, drops some death and realizes he can’t tell time anymore, then blames it on Arctor.

Theme: After so much stress and drug abuse, the mind begins to think differently. It splits apart and takes on different personalities thinking it’s one thing when really it’s another.