“I know that. I mean the special one where Lord Tomi goes. I could lose him in the passages and get picked up by the soldiers.”

“And you'd blab on us?”

“No, of course I wouldn't.”

“Hmm. I'll take you down to Four myself and find a slave who's noticed where the Lord Tomi goes.”

They scurried along the perimeter corridor to the stairway and down the gritty stairs. At the foot of the next flight Scarface left her. “Stay in the shadows there. If any slave asks what you're doing there, say 'It's Eight-Forty-Two's business.' Got that?” She nodded and he slipped through the door and was gone.

I wonder what time it is now, she thought. It was midmorning when I came into the Ark. It feels like the middle of the night. I'm so hungry. I wish ... oh, now I wish I hadn't thought about food. I'm thirsty, too. I suppose I couldn't ask them? No, they look as if they haven't even enough for themselves.

But water would be wonderful. Even recycled water. She found herself remembering the delicious taste of the water of the mountain streams Outside. If we do go out there to live, we'll drink that water every day. But why am I thinking about water? Where is Luke? Where are the others? Are they being fed and looked after? Or perhaps ... she remembered the slave in the Dome and the hand of the Lord rising and falling across his shoulders. She shut her eyes and shuddered.

“Come on. Are you asleep?” A skinny hand shook her arm. It was Seventy-Three. “Eight-Forty-Two said I was to take you. Lord Tomi will meet us in the South Quad, Sector B. Here, hold this.” A heavy box was thrust into her hands. “If anyone asks, you're Ninety-Six and you're taking this to Lord Tomi. Got that?”

“Ninety-Six. Lord Tomi. Yes.”

“Come on. No, not like that. Do you want to be picked up by the Three-eyes? Shuffle your feet along and keep your head down, your eyes on the ground all the time, but specially if you meet one of them. The Lords aren't so bad, well, most of them, but the Three-eyes ... “

“Seventy-Three, how can you stand it? Why don't you try to escape?”

“Hush. That's another thing. You talk too loud. And too often.” She pushed open the door. “Come on.”

They scurried down the great radial corridor that led from the perimeter towards the central elevator banks. 'Not many Three-eyes on Four?' Wasn't that what Scarface had said? They seemed to be everywhere, walking alertly along the main corridor, hovering in the side passages, stun guns at the ready, their heads turning this way and that. With their helmets and their central 'eye' in the middle of their forehead they reminded Ruth of the insects Outside.