THEY MADE CAMP in a peaceful birch grove. They had left the river an hour ago and were travelling due cast towards the watershed beyond which flowed the great river that would lead them to Ark One.

In the darkness of firelight Ruth tried to reach towards the unknown. Surely by now she should have been able to contact the Espers in that other community. But there was nothing out there but the unease of the others and the shame of Angela.

And I must do something about that. Oh, what a mess we're in. And it's all my fault. Without those dreams we'd be safely home. If only ...

“Stop it,” said Luke, turning from the pot of soup he was stirring.

“I don't know what you mean.”

He laughed and she blushed. “You're broadcasting so loudly I’m surprised you haven't deafened every- one.”

She looked over her shoulder anxiously.

“No, it's all right. I think you and I and the Initiator are the only ones functioning normally out here. Even the Communicators are at a loss. But stop blaming yourself. Sooner or later we were going to have to face Outside. We couldn't go on living underground for ever.”

After dinner the Initiator called them into a circle around the fire. “Our powers have weakened and I call upon all of you to strengthen the others. Fragmented we are weak and afraid. Together we can overcome fear and loneliness, as Luke and Ruth overcame the mountain. Join hands in loving and forgiveness. I call upon the Web ... “

Behind her closed eyes Ruth saw the fire glow. From it spun a golden thread, as fragile as a spider's web. Around the circle it went, joining them together. Then it shivered and broke apart.

Me again, thought Ruth.

No. Luke spoke in her mind. It is not your anger that is destroying us.

Angela's face was in shadow. She turned her back on Ruth and Luke and began to tidy up the camp site. Faith and Thomas began to squabble over whose turn it was to do the dishes.

Little things, but it shouldn't happen in a true Esper conmunity, Ruth thought. Back in Ark Three they had felt so ready to build a new society, once the time was ripe. But would it ever be? Maybe the last hundred and forty years had been a waste of energy. “What do you think, Luke? Can we only function inside the Ark?”

“Like hot house plants? I don't know. Only time will tell if we can survive the frost.”

With this bleak thought Ruth went to bed. It took her a long time to go to sleep, and when she finally did she thought she was still a wake, because in her dream she was staring up into darkness.