But the madness must be over by now, and nothing seemed to lie outside but meadows and forested foothills and, in the distance, the dark mountains. As Ruth watched, two hawks circled lazily in a thermal, round and round. One of them suddenly plunged to the ground, rising a moment later with a small limp bundle in its talons. There was life outside - animal life anyway- though no signs of human beings. If humans had survived the end of civilization outside the Ark, they were somewhere else.

Ruth concentrated on her terrifying thought. If she were to leave the Ark, then the Web would complete itself, golden and shining with psychic energy. She was a flaw in the design. They'd be better off without her. As for the girls in Grade Eight C, they wouldn't have to dread the New Year wondering if she would disgrace them all.

“All right,” she said out loud, to make sure she herself believed in her wild plan. “I'll go.”

THERE was nothing to stop a person leaving the Ark, any more than there is anything to stop a person jumping off a ship into a raging sea. It was understood: no one in her right mind would leave the warm togetherness of the Web for the cold empty loneliness of Outside.

The way out was through a door in the western perimeter of Ark Three facing what had been, in the old days, a huge lake, before the dam that had held back the waters had broken. It was on Floor One, where all the foods not grown in the Dome garden, such as yeast cultures and hydroponics, were developed.

The door would be bolted on the inside, of course, since the original purpose of the Ark was to stop the crazies from coming in, not prevent the people of the Ark from leaving. But opening it should be no problem. The problem lay in explaining her presence on Floor One at all. Yeast culture, in particular, was a touchy business and only the scientists actually working were permitted there. In her pale green neophyte's uniforms he would stand out, peculiar as usual.

It's hopeless. Completely hopeless. And now I've missed lunch and I'll have to rush back to class or I'll be in trouble again. What were they supposed to be doing this particular afternoon?

Then she remembered and sat up so suddenly that she hit her head against the hard curve of the Dome. She rubbed it absentmindedly, while she busily worked out a plan. That afternoon Eight C was on laundry duty. Everyone from neophyte to Warden took their turn at the jobs necessary to keep the Ark running, from working in the kitchen to shovelling recycled waste for the garden.