“No, no.” Luke flapped his hands. “It's at least fifteen kilometres. For the last ten we won't have the road to help us. ''

“As to the Web,” the Initiator cautioned. “We don't know whether they esper the way we do.”

“But Ruth's dreams?”

“They show that some powerful force is working from within Ark One. But they may not mesh. There may be no Web, no understanding. The fact that Thomas and the other Communicators haven't received a single signal…” Her voice trailed off. She shrugged.

But I can feel something, thought Ruth. A prickliness over her skin and that heavy feeling in her chest, like she had felt before the landslide ... Her skin crawled as if insects were running across it, and when a hand touched her shoulder she jumped and cried out.

“What is it?” asked the Initiator. “I don't know. Something.”

“Don't worry. It'll come clear. We trust you, Ruth.”

Not all of you, thought Ruth. She looked at Angela, who was cheerfully bossing Charity and Faith, as she had in the old days. It's not only her. We argue and the air is painful with the sharp corners of our emotions. I think it was only the Web that made us one. We ourselves didn't grow or change. It was all the Web. Without it we are little better than the barbarians.

THE WORN ROAD looped to and fro down the mountain, so that they had, in the end, to walk twice as far as the map had led them to believe. It was almost dark before the pines gave way to beech and maple, the slope became much less steep and the road once more ran straight.

They built their evening fire in the middle of the road and pitched their tents in the long grass at its verge, where the ground was soft enough for tent pegs. They ate quickly and crawled into their tents as soon as the meal was cleaned up. Tomorrow they would reach Ark One. Tomorrow they would meet the people who had been their friends in the days long ago.

Rowan

EARLY NEXT afternoon they again reached the river. It was hot and, though the pines cut out the sunlight, the air was filled with the smell of resin and pine needles. Slowly they became aware of a new sound. At first it was so faint that they didn't notice it, but as they walked it grew louder and louder until it filled the still air.

There, almost beneath their feet, was the river, running dark and deep between cleanly cut banks. Its surface was as smooth as synthetic, but when someone threw in a tree branch the water sucked it down with a swirl and it was gone.