The car entered — at last — a narrow rectangular port which seemed to Dura to be already filled with jostling traffic. The car pushed deeper into the bulk of the City along a narrow tunnel — a "street," Toba Mixxax called it — through which cars and people thronged. These citizens of Parz were all dressed in thick, heavy, bright clothing, and all seemed to Dura utterly without fear of the streams of cars around them. Dura's impressions from without of the airiness and brightness of the City evaporated now; the walls of the street closed in around her, and the car seemed to be pushing deeper into a clammy darkness.

At last they came to a gap in the wall of the street, a port leading to a brighter place. This was the entrance to the Hospital, Toba said. Dura watched, silent, as Toba with unconscious skill slid his car through the last few layers of traffic and encouraged the pigs to draw the car gently into the Hospital bay. When the car had been brought to rest against a floor of polished wood, Toba knotted the reins together, pushed his way out of his chair and stretched in the Air.

Farr looked at him strangely. "You're tired? But the pigs did all the work."

Toba laughed and turned bruised-looking eyes to the boy. "Learn to drive, kid, and you'll know what tiredness is." He looked to Dura. "Anyway, now comes the hard part. Come on; I'll need you to help me explain."

Toba reached for the door of the car. As he released its catch Dura flinched, half-expecting another explosive change of pressure. But the door simply glided open, barely making a noise. Heat washed into the opened interior of the car; Dura felt the prickle of cooling superfluid capillaries opening all over her body.

Toba led Dura and Farr out of the car, wriggling stiffly through the doorway. Dura put her hands on the rim of the doorway, pulled — and found herself plunging forward, her face ramming into Toba's back hard enough to make her nose ache.

Toba staggered in the Air. "Hey, take it easy. What's the rush?"

Dura apologized. She looked down at her arms uncertainly. What had that been all about? She hadn't misjudged her own strength like that since she was a child. It was as if she had suddenly become immensely strong... or else as light as a child. She felt clumsy, off balance; the heat of this place seemed overwhelming.

Her confidence sank even more. She shook her head, irritated and afraid, and tried to put the little incident out of her mind.