Genarr listened gravely, ‘And what's the bottom line, Eugenia?’

‘As it happens, I believe the effect will be to make Earth's orbit a trifle more eccentric than it is now and the semimajor axis a bit smaller than it is now.’

‘Which means?’

‘Which means that Earth will become too hot to be habitable.’

‘And what will happen to Megas and Erythro?’

‘Nothing measurable. The Nemetic System is much smaller than the Solar System and therefore is held together more tightly. Nothing here will budge significantly, but Earth will.’

‘When will this happen?’

‘In five thousand and twenty-four years, plus or minus fifteen, Nemesis will reach the point of closest approach. The effect will spread itself out over twenty or thirty years as Nemesis and the Sun approach and separate.’

‘Are there going to be any collisions or anything like that?’

‘Almost zero chance of anything significant. No collisions between any major bodies. Of course, a solar asteroid might strike Erythro, or a Nemetic asteroid might strike the Earth. There would be a very small chance of that, though it would be catastrophic for Earth if it happened. There's no chance of calculating that, however, until the stars are very close to each other.’

‘But, in any case, Earth will have to be evacuated. Is that it?’

‘Oh yes.’

‘But they've got five thousand years to do it in.’

‘Five thousand years is none too long to arrange for the evacuation of eight billion people. They should be warned.’

‘Won't they find out for themselves, even if they aren't warned?’

‘Who knows when? And even if they find out soon, we should give them the technique of hyper-assistance. They will have to have it.’

‘I'm sure they will have that on their own, too, and perhaps in not too long a time.’

‘And if they don't?’

‘I'm also sure that within a century or less, communication will be established between Rotor and Earth. After all, if we have hyper-assistance for transportation, we will have it for communication eventually. Or we will send a Settlement back to Earth and there will still be time.’

‘You talk like Pitt.’

Genarr chuckled. ‘He can't be wrong all the time, you know.’

‘He won't want to communicate. I know it.’

‘He can't always have his way either. We have a Dome here on Erythro, though he opposed it. And even if we don't beat him on that, hell be dead eventually. Really, Eugenia, don't worry excessively about Earth at this moment. We have nearer concerns. Does Marlene know you are about done?’

‘How can she fail to know? Apparently, the exact state of my progress is imprinted on the way I swish my sleeve or comb my hair.’

‘She's getting ever more perceptive, isn't she?’

‘Yes. Have you noticed that, too?’

‘Indeed I have. Just in the short time I've known her.’

‘I suppose part of it is due to her growing older. She's growing perception, perhaps, the way she's growing breasts. Then, too, she spent most of her life trying to hide her ability because she didn't know what to make of it, and because it got her into trouble. Now that she's not afraid, it's out and expanding, so to speak.’

‘Or because, for some reason, as she says, she likes being on Erythro and her pleasure extends her perceptions.’

Insigna said, ‘I have had a thought about this, Siever. I don't wish to pester you with my follies. I do tend to accumulate worries about Marlene, about Earth, about everything- Do you suppose that Erythro is affecting her? I mean, adversely? Do you suppose that a touch of the Plague is taking the form of making her even more perceptive?’

‘I don't know that that question can be answered, Eugenia, but if her heightened perception is the effect of the Plague, it doesn't seem to bother her mental balance at all. And I can tell you this - none of those who suffered from the Plague in all our stay here showed any symptoms remotely like Eugenia's gift.’

Insigna heaved a sigh. ‘Thank you. You're comforting. And thank you, too, for being so gentle and friendly with Marlene.’

Genarr's mouth quirked in a small lopsided smile. ‘It's easy. I'm very fond of her.’

‘You make that sound so natural. She's not a likable girl. I know that, even if I'm her mother.’

‘I find her likable. I've always preferred brains to beauty in women - unless I could get both, as in your case, Eugenia-’

‘Twenty years ago, maybe,’ said Eugenia with another sigh.

‘My eyes have aged with your body, Eugenia. They see no change. But it doesn't matter to me that Marlene is not beautiful. She's fearfully intelligent, even apart from her perception.’

‘Yes, there is that. It consoles me even when she is most burdensome.’

‘Well, as to that, I'm afraid Marlene will continue to be a burden, Eugenia.’

Insigna looked up sharply. ‘In what way?’

‘She has made it plain to me that being in the Dome is not enough. She wants to be out there, out on the soil of the world itself just as soon as you are done with your work. She insists!’

And Insigna stared at him in horror.