"Frank," she said softly, tremulously. "What is it like—on Earth? We are lost, Ardiné and I—"
"Not lost, Gena," Frank answered, his voice serious. Over the girl's wet shoulder, in the west, he could see the swollen red orb of sun setting behind the wooded island. He saw farther, into tomorrow, and after. To his friends in the lab—to a story he knew would be incredulously received—to a world he and Storm would have to try to explain to these girls from across the star hung void.
"You'll be with me, Gena," he said, his voice gentle. "As my wife. And perhaps some day, with your knowledge, and Ardiné's—"
The girl smiled, and followed the line of his upward glance. The shadows were lengthening across the heaving Sound. But in the still, flushed sky a pin point of light beckoned, like a smiling answer—the brilliant disc of glowing Mars.