On the deck of the Greek trading ship, a group of tradesmen sit crouched and argue. Neither the Muslim nor the Venetian merchant seems impressed by Ardzrouni’s and The Poet’s meteorite stones. A Buddhist monk next to them meditates impassibly. Lying down on a rug, Baudolino turns his head away from the merchant’s group, annoyed. He watches a flapping banner for a while, his mind wandering from…Constantinople shining in the rising sun…to …the setting sun behind the waterfall and the lake where he met Hypatia…He dozes off watching the banner flapping in the wind, which …morphs into a flying fish jumping out and diving into the sea. The fish grows bigger and bigger while circling the ship closer and closer to Baudolino. Baudolino grabs one of the fish’s wings and jumps on his back. There is a long journey of flying day and night over the desert’s dunes. Under the scorching sun, the fish’s scales gradually fall off, and it loses altitude to Baudolino’s horror who… wakes up yelling. The merchants look at him, startled.