Citizeness Roget Germyn, widow, woke from sleep like a well-mannered
cat on the narrow lower third of the bed that her training had taught
her to occupy, though it had been some days since her husband's
Translation had emptied the Citizen's two-thirds permanently.
Someone had tapped gently on her door.
"I am awake," she called, in a voice just sufficient to carry.
A quiet voice said: "Citizeness, there is exceptional opportunity to
Appreciate this morning. Come see, if you will. And I ask forgiveness
for waking you."
She recognized the voice; it was the wife of one of her neighbors.
The Citizeness made the appropriate reply, combining forgiveness and
gratitude.
She dressed rapidly, but with appropriate pauses for reflection and
calm, and stepped out into the street.
It was not yet daylight. Overhead, great sheets of soundless lightnings
flared.
Inside Citizeness Germyn long-unfelt emotions stirred. There was
something that was very like terror, and something that was akin to
love. This was a generation that had never seen the aurora, for the
ricocheting electron beams that cause it could not span the increasing
distance between the orphaned Earth and its primary, Old Sol, and the
small rekindled suns the Pyramids made were far too puny.
Under the sleeting aurora, small knots of Citizens stood about the
streets, their faces turned up to the sky and illuminated by the
distant light. It was truly an exceptional opportunity to Appreciate
and they were all making the most of it.
Conscientiously, Citizeness Germyn sought out another viewer with whom
to exchange comments on the spectacle above. "It is more bright than
meteors," she said judiciously, "and lovelier than the freshly kindled
Sun."
"Sure," said the woman. Citizeness Germyn, jolted, looked more closely.
It was the Tropile woman--Gala? Was that her name? And what sort of
name was _that_? But it fitted her well; she was the one who had been
wife to Wolf and, more likely than not, part Wolf herself.
Still, the case was not proved. Citizeness Germyn said honestly: "I
have never seen a sight to compare with this in all my life."
Gala Tropile said indifferently: "Yeah. Funny things are happening all
the time these days, have you noticed? Ever since Glenn turned out to
be--" She stopped.
Citizeness Germyn rapidly diagnosed her embarrassment and acted to
cover it up. "That is so. I have seen Eyes a hundred times and yet
has there been a Translation with the Eyes? No. But there have been
Translations. It is queer."
"I suppose so," Gala Tropile said, looking upward at the display. She
sighed.
Over their heads, a formed Eye was drifting slowly about, but neither
of the women noticed it. The shifting lights in the sky obscured it.
"I wonder what causes that stuff," Gala Tropile said idly.
Citizeness Germyn made no attempt to answer. It was not the sort of
question that would normally have occurred to her and therefore not a
sort to which she could reply.
Moreover, it was not the question closest to Gala Tropile's heart at
that moment--nor, for that matter, the question closest to Citizeness
Germyn's. The question that underlay the thoughts of both was: _I
wonder what happened to my husband._
It was strange, but true, that the answers to all their questions were
very nearly the same.
* * * * *