They grumbled, as they would never have done a week earlier, but in the end they obeyed and trudged on. The grass grew wiry. A scatter of larch and birch were mixed with the dark of the pine.

Suddenly the land fell away from beneath their feet. They were looking down into an immensely wide valley. Far below, a thread of white between the trees was a river.

“That's it!” Luke's voice was so triumphant that Ruth knew that in spite of his calm he too had not been sure.

“Tomorrow we'll be down there. Maybe go a little way south…

Now they could see their destination they all became more cheerful. “Though it's taken longer than we counted on. We'd counted on reaching Ark One in a week. It's going to take us at least two more days.”

''That long? But …”

“If we follow the river. That's the safest way, but it makes a big loop to the cast here, before heading south.”

''Will we have trouble crossing it?”

''We won't have to. Ark One's built on the west bank.” So why do I keep remembering the dream of the bridge? And why do I feel prickly again, instead of being as happy as the others? thought Ruth.

That night she crept out of the tent again to look up at the stars. Over to the southeast, that's where Ark One should be. Just below the tail of the Scorpion. The sting of the Scorpion.

We're so close. Why can’t You talk to me, Tomi?

Suppose we walk for two more days and there is no Dome? But there has to be. It was on the map. Suppose we find a deserted city, the dome broken like an eggshell?

Then where do my dreams come from?

THE EIGHTH DAY brought new muscles into play as they began the steep descent to the river. But climbing down was much quicker than climbing up, and it was only noon when the reached it. They dropped their loads thankfully, strip- ped off their dusty clothes and bathed and washed their hair. “We must look our best. I wonder if they're expecting us.”

“Expecting us? I doubt it.” Thomas shrugged. “We've reached out constantly to this new Ark, but all we get is silence.”

“Yet their Esper signals reached Ruth a hundred kilometres and three mountain ranges away.”

“It makes no sense, but there it is.” Thomas spread his hands. “Silence.”

“Keep trying,” said the Initiator. “That's all you can do.”

THAT NIGHT they camped close to the river, and on the following morning decided to save time by cutting over the hills in a southerly direction to where one of the old roads, marked on Luke's map, should help them on their way.

“It's uphill again.”

“But we'll save at least a day. We're getting short of food for the return journey.”

“Surely they'll feed us and give us supplies? After all, we're colleagues. Almost friends.”