The citizens have an itch. X, a commoner, takes pleasure in the itch and starts a game. X’s perceptions are turned off, and the place of the vertebra it belongs to is found by numbers. X shows his cries against the Fairy by itching and passing out. X pays for this resistance by revealing the core of his spine, the compass

he uses to navigate. The ants distort their axes and carry the remaining nuclei around. X tries to find the lost kernel by counting down the numbers; core, count, and numbers are ready for the birth