“No, it isn't.” The Initiator scrambled to her feet. Ruth could see in the twilight that her face was very pale. “They've gone. Without leaving a psychic trace. I don't know where.”

The Broken Web

RUTH STARED at the Initiator and felt a shiver run down her spine. Luke gone! “They can't have. Perhaps they're all asleep.”

“I'd still sense their presence. But there's nothing at all.” “Maybe they got tired of waiting and decided to go back to your Ark,” Swift suggested.

She shook her head. “They would never do that without waiting for us. And they couldn't have got that far. I should still be able to sense them. But there's nothing. Not a trace. It's as if ... “Ruth saw her throat move as she swallowed. “As if they were dead.”

“Do you think the soldiers came out and killed them?”

“No.” Swift was definite. “The soldiers would never leave the Ark. It's not in their programme and they would be afraid to do anything like that on their own.”

“Then where are they?”

“Inside the Ark.” Ruth's voice cracked. “It's the only answer, isn't it?”

“I suppose.” The Initiator ran her hand through her short blonde hair. “Luke was restless when I followed you. If he found the entrance to the underground passage and got tired of waiting ... No, that wouldn't work.''

“Why?”

“Because they couldn't unlock the door from outside. They could only have got in with help from inside the Ark. Tomi perhaps?”

Swift shook his head. “I don't think so. I have never heard of this passage you describe. If Tomi knew of it he would have used it to help slaves to escape.”

“You're sure of that, Swift?”

“Wait a minute,” Ruth interrupted. “Luke could unlock the door. He got the rope across the river. He held back the mudslide. The handle of the door would be nothing to him, if it was designed like ours - just a quarter turn, remember?''

“So you think they're inside the city?”

“They must be, mustn't they?” It has to be the truth, thought Ruth. The other possibility is just too horrible to think about. “Yes! That would account for the loss of their Esper signal, wouldn't it? Something inside the Dome is blocking it. That's why the communicators couldn't get any response before. Oh, that has to be it.”

The moon had just risen and the huge Dome glinted icily white. There was something sinister about it. Ruth shivered and told herself not to be stupid. It was just a dome covering the garden, no different from their own.

“Perhaps it is the central computer,” Swift suggested. “I don't understand this Esper of yours, but the computer is powerful enough to control the thoughts of everyone inside the Dome. Perhaps it is blocking the signals you think you should be getting.”

“But the slaves are not controlled by the computer,” Healhand put in. “They have no infopaks.”

“And neither do we. So why…?”