“Clever-up, dog,” Duffy hung on his neck. “Why waste all that dear violence? Punch me around a little.”

He lifted her in his arms and shook her until she squealed. “And parts of the world will taste sweet… like you, Duffy; and parts will stink to high heaven… but I’ll gobble them all.” He laughed and crushed her against him. “I don’t know much about the God business, but I know what I like. We’ll tear it all down, Duffy, and we’ll build it all up to suit us… You and me and the dynasty.”

He carried her to the window, tore away the drapes and kicked open the sashes with a mighty jangle of smashed glass. Outside, the city was in velvet darkness. Only the skyways and streets twinkled with lights, and the scarlet eyes of an occasional Jumper popped up over the jet skyline. The rain had stopped and a slender moon hung pale in the sky. The night wind came whispering in, cutting through the cloy of the spilled perfume.

“You out there!” Reich roared. “Can you hear me! All of you… sleeping and dreaming. You’ll dream my dreams from now on! You’ll—”

Abruptly he was silent. He relaxed his hold on Duffy and permitted her to slide to the floor alongside him. He seized the sides of the window and poked his head far out into the night, twisting his neck to stare up. When he drew his head back into the room, his face wore a bewildered expression.

“The stars,” he mumbled. “Where are the stars?”

“Where are the what?” Duffy wanted to know.

“The stars,” Reich repeated. He gestured timidly toward the sky. “The stars. They’re gone.”

Duffy looked at him curiously. “The what are gone?”

“The stars!” Reich cried. “Look up at the sky. The stars are gone. The constellations are gone! The Great Bear… The Little Bear… Cassiopeia… Draco… Pegasus… They’re all gone! There’s nothing but the moon! Look!”

“It’s the way it always is,” Duffy said.

“It is not! Where are the stars?”

“What stars?”

“I don’t know their names… Polaris and… Vegä… and… How the hell should I know their names? I’m not an astronomer. What’s happened to us? What’s happened to the stars?”

“What are stars?” Duffy asked.

Reich seized her savagely. “Suns… Boiling and blazing with light. Thousands of them. Billions of them… shining through the night. What the hell’s the matter with you? Don’t you understand? There’s been a catastrophe in space, the stars are gone!”

Duffy shook her head. Her face was terrified. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ben. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He shoved her away, turned and ran to the bathroom, and locked himself in. While he was hurriedly bathing and dressing, Duffy pounded on the door and pleaded with him. Finally, she broke off, and seconds later he heard her calling Kingston Hospital, using a guarded voice.

“Let her start explaining about the stars,” Reich muttered, halfway between anger and terror. He finished his toilette and came out into the bedroom.