She rubbed her eyes, glanced about her in consternation. The change in light had brought about a startling change in the scenery. It looked as if it were bathed in blood.
She said, "Oh, Jon, I wish we were home. I wish we'd never come on this horrible expedition."
He didn't look up from his compass. "The ship can't be much further." He spotted the black gash of a gully a hundred yards ahead. "We'll walk to the gully, then pick out another object."
"I'm still tired. I don't feel as if I'd slept at all."
"You didn't—much. Only about ten minutes. Come on."
They reached the gully and Saxon found a cone-shaped hill looming up redly almost a quarter of a mile further on. They set out for it, Ileth holding his hand.
Their progress was necessarily slower because Saxon had to stop often and consult the compass. Even so, he began to be afraid that they had overshot the ship in the dark.
Slowly Proxima Centauri blazed its blood red path across the night sky.
Not far from Proxima a star twinkled faintly, steadily. It was about in the position that Sol should be. He wondered if it was.
"It's growing lighter," said Ileth.