Marlene was at his side. She was looking upward, and Genarr said gently, ‘Don't stare at Nemesis, Marlene.’

Marlene's voice sounded naturally in his ear. It contained no tension or apprehension. Rather, her voice was filled with quiet joy. She said, ‘I'm looking at the clouds, Uncle Siever.’

Genarr looked up into the dark sky where, by squinting for a while, one could detect a faint greenish-yellow gleam. Against it were the feathery fair-weather clouds that caught Nemesis' light and reflected it in orange splendor.

There was an eerie quiet about Erythro. There was nothing to make a sound. No form of life sang, roared, growled, bellowed, twittered, stridulated, or creaked. There were no leaves to rustle, no insects to hum. In the rare storms, there might be the rumble of thunder, or the wind might sigh against the occasional boulder - if it blew hard enough. On a peaceful, calm day, however, as this one was, it was silent.

Genarr spoke just to make sure that it was quiet and that he had not suddenly been struck deaf. (He couldn't have been, to be sure, for he heard the faint rasp of his own breath.)

‘Are you all right, Marlene?’

‘I feel wonderful. There's a brook up there.’ And she hastened her steps into an almost shambling run, hampered as she was by her E-suit.

He said, ‘Watch out, Marlene. You'll slip.’

‘I'll be careful.’ Her voice was not dimmed by increasing distance, of course, since it was a radio beam that carried it.

Eugenia Insigna's voice sounded suddenly in Genarr's ear. ‘Why is Marlene running, Siever?’ Then, almost at once, she added, ‘Why are you running, Marlene?’

Marlene did not bother to answer, but Genarr said, ‘She just wants to look at some creek or other up ahead, Eugenia.’

‘Is she all right?’

‘Of course she is. It's weirdly beautiful out here. After a while, it doesn't even seem barren - more like an abstract painting.’

‘Never mind the art criticism, Siever. Don't let her get away from you.’

‘Don't worry. I'm in constant contact with her. Right now, she hears what you and I are saying and if she doesn't answer, it's because she doesn't want to be bothered by irrelevancies. Eugenia, relax. Marlene is enjoying herself. Don't spoil it.’

Genarr was indeed convinced that Marlene was enjoying herself. Somehow he was, too.

Marlene was running upstream along the brook's edge. Genarr felt no great urgency to follow her. Let her enjoy herself, he thought.

The Dome itself was built on a rocky outcropping but the region in this direction was interlaced with small gently flowing brooks that all combined into a rather large river some thirty kilometers away that, in turn, flowed into the sea.

The brooks were welcome, of course. They supplied the Dome with its natural water supply, once the prokaryote content was removed (actually, ‘killed’ was the better word). There had been some biologists, in the early days of the Dome, who had objected to the killing of the prokaryotes, but that was ridiculous. The tiny specks of life were so incredibly numerous on the planet, and could proliferate so rapidly to replace any shrinkage of their numbers, that no amount of ordinary killing in the process of ensuring a water supply could hurt them, in any significant way. Then, once the Plague began, a vague but strong hostility to Erythro rose up, and, after that, no-one cared what one did to the prokaryotes.

Of course, now that the Plague did not seem to be much of a threat any longer, humanitarian feelings (Genarr privately felt that ‘biotarian’ was the better word) might rise again. Genarr sympathized with those feelings, but then what would the Dome do for a water supply?

Lost in thought, he was no longer looking at Marlene, and the shriek sounded deafeningly in his ear. ‘Marlene! Marlene! Siever, what is she doing?’

Now he looked up, and was about to answer with automatic reassurance that nothing was wrong, that all was well, when he caught sight of Marlene.

For a moment, he could not tell what she was doing. He just stared at her in the pink light of Nemesis.

Then he made it out. She was unhitching her helmet and was taking it off. Now she was working at removing the rest of her E-suit. He had to stop this!

Genarr tried to call out to her, but in the horror of the emergency, he couldn't find his voice. He tried to run to her, but his legs felt leaden, and barely responded to the urgency of his feelings.

It was as though he found himself in a nightmare where dreadful things were happening, and he could do nothing to prevent them. Or, perhaps, his mind, under the stress of events, was dissociating from his body.

Is this the Plague, striking at me ? Genarr wondered in panic. And, if so, what will happen to Marlene now, as she is baring herself to the light of Nemesis and the air of Erythro?