  On compactification from higher dimensions, a single free massive scalar
field gives rise to a set of effective four-dimensional scalar fields, each
with a different mass. These can cooperate to drive a period of inflation known
as assisted inflation. We analyze the dynamics of the simplest implementation
of this idea, paying particular attention to the decoupling of fields from the
slow-roll regime as inflation proceeds. Unlike normal models of inflation, the
dynamics does not become independent of the initial conditions at late times.
In particular, we estimate the density perturbations obtained, which retain a
memory of the initial conditions even though a homogeneous, spatially-flat
Universe is generated.
