"Your father?" The elevator arrived. They stepped inside. Eathen grabbed her arm. "That woman knew your father?"

"No," said Anna. Eathen's radiations were too strong. She wished he would go away and let her think in peace. "It was Inspector Cargill. He knew."

"Cargill was there?"

"Yes."

"But what-?"

"He was there." She could see him clearly, dark burlap, silver badge, standing, writing the note. "I saw him. He was investigating the murder. Why shouldn't he be there?"

Going down, the elevator was much faster. They stepped immediately onto the street.

Eathen glanced behind.

"That man is still there," he said.

"Ralston? He saw us?"

"He must have."

"Oh," she said. "Oh, no." But it didn't really seem very important. No-not really.

Ten.

Before making himself venture out into the garden to look for them, Alec was determined to search every room in the house first. There were thirty, including rooms especially created for dining, bathing, sleeping, eating, studying, meditating, and tumbling. One room, on the far side of the house, was a vast ballroom, specifically designed for formal dancing. He and Anna had never made use of the room. It was the last place he inspected, but neither Anna nor Eathen was here either. He paused in the center of the vast, high-ceilinged room and looked at the outer wall. They had to be out in the garden.

That was the last place in the world he felt like going now, but after so long an absence, he could hardly come home and not inform his wife. Or could he? Why not? Did she even care?

While making up his mind, he roamed through the dusty room and uncovered a long forgotten bottle of Scotch tucked away in one dark corner. He popped the cork and sniffed the stem. It smelled good. He sat on the slick, polished floor and took a tentative swallow. He smiled. It was good. Another swallow. Still good. Another.

Finally, having formed a decision, he pushed the bottle aside and stood up. He retraced his steps to the place where the transparent wall afforded immediate access to the garden. He stepped unhesitantly forward, letting the feeling of warmth that flowed, tingling, through his blood drive him ahead. Cupping his mouth with his hands, he called:

"Anna!"

A squadron of flying ants-he thought that's what they were-buzzed around the top of his head. He swatted one, then ducked past the rest, hurrying down a wide pathway, which gradually narrowed as he continued. He kept his senses carefully attuned, expecting at any moment to be confronted by Anna. She had to be out here; she couldn't very well be trying to hide. He called her name again. Immediately, he felt the radiated presence of someone else- a dim and distant mind-a stranger. Who? He stopped and tried to penetrate farther, but the radiations were dim and uncertain. He shook his head and continued forward, following a sharp turn in the path.

He nearly ran right into Anna.

She was seated in front of a high, blinking, pulsating machine, which Alec recognized as a device used for editing separate tape sequences into a draft sculpture. It was good to see Anna working again. Her eyes were fastened to the protruding lens of a scope. She peered down deeply into the dark innards of the machine. Eathen sat on the grass at her feet.

With a start, Alec realized that the strange presence- the unknown person whose radiations he had earlier felt---was Anna.

What had they done to her?

He stepped forward, genuinely concerned, when she turned suddenly in her seat and glared at him.

"Now where have you been?" she said, coldly.

"I-" He stopped, unable to continue. He took a deep breath, fighting the dulling effects of the whisky. "I went to the office first."

"Wouldn't your war wait?"

"Astor ordered me to."

"Was she there?"

"Sylvia. Yes-of course. I called her ahead of time. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"You called her-but not me?" Before he could reply, she waved a hand, dismissing the question. She said, "I assume, then, that she told you."

"Yes," he said.

"Everything?"

"I suppose so."

Anna shrugged and turned back to the machine. Eathen, at her feet, was smiling up at Alec, but the gesture---on his lips-was a cold, dead thing.

"Stop doing that," Alec told him.

Around the three of them, a high circle of trees rose in a single, sheer mass, like the walls of a deep canyon. Directly overhead, the moon sat big and golden in the sky. From the silver haze that circled the disk, he gathered that this must be the real moon tonight. Anna had taken the risk of lowering the dome. The stars, as well, seemed peculiarly bright and far away.

"Anna," he said, when he saw her lean back in the chair. "Why did you-?"

She spun around, her defenses momentarily slipping. Alec was appalled by the ugly, chaotic, senseless mass he saw inside her mind. What had happened to her? Could she be reverting all the way at last? Her aura genuinely frightened him; he kept his own feelings under stern control.

"Why did I tell her I was leaving you? Is that what you want to know?"

"Yes," he said, softly.

"Because I am," she said. "By tomorrow evening, I will be gone."

"But-" he struggled to find the right words "-why?"

"Because you disgust me. No-I shouldn't say that. I should say that it's your hypocrisy that disgusts me."

"What do you mean by that?" He tried to sound angry, but couldn't-couldn't even feel angry. When Sylvia had told him what Anna had said, he had been angry then. But not now. Not sitting across from her and seeing her as she was and, most importantly, feeling her. He let her speak freely.

"I can't tell you everything I mean," she said. "There isn't enough time for that. But your attitude on the war. You claim to be opposed and yet there isn't anyone working harder to bring it about."

"You know why-"

"No," she said, bluntly, meeting his gaze. "The fact is that I don't know."

They had never talked this way before-so openly and bitterly. Her contempt was so immense he could not fight it. One person can argue with another only when there is some form of mutual respect between them and, as a result, some possibility of winning the other over. Alec could see that this condition no longer existed with Anna.

"You tell me what I'm supposed to do."