The tattoo mark!
The cylinder must be a source of black light able to kick fluorescence out of the tattoo marks. What did it mean? Who was Tamis?
From sleeping figure to sleeping figure, the girl glided. Sometimes she found the tattoo mark; sometimes she didn't.
She was approaching Joel's bunk. He forced himself to relax, to breathe evenly as if in a deep sleep.
Then she was hovering over him....
Joel's hand closed with a crushing grip about her wrist, yanked her off her feet into the bunk!
Tamis uttered one smothered cry, struggled soundlessly. Then she seemed to realize the futility of trying to break free and went limp.
Joel could feel her warm lithe body pinned against him. A strange alien scent filled his nostrils. It was delicate, flower-like, yet utterly alien.
The hair lifted on the back of his neck like the hackles of a dog. He found himself staring deep into the girl's eyes.
They had no pupil, no color, only a weird flickering light in their depths that glimmered like candle flame.