"We're trapped, we're trapped, they are—"
"Shut up, Rodney! Wass, I'm only two sections from the edge. I'll check here."
Martin clapped a hand on Rodney's shoulder again, starting him moving, toward the city's edge, past the black, silent buildings.
The glittering band was here, too, like a halo around a silhouette.
"No go," Martin said to Wass. He bit at his lower lip. "I think it must be all around us." He was silent for a time, exploring the consequences of this. Then—"We'll meet you in the middle of the city, where we separated."
Walking with Rodney, Martin heard Wass' voice, flat and metallic through the radio receiver against his ear. "What do you suppose caused this?"
He shook his head angrily, saying, "Judging by reports of the rest of the planet, it must have been horribly radioactive at one time. All of it."
"Man-made radiation, you mean."
Martin grinned faintly. Wass, too, had an active imagination. "Well, alien-made, anyhow. Perhaps they had a war."
Wass' voice sounded startled. "Anti-radiation screen?"