Her lashes were lowered as if in sleep, and he had the instant conviction that she had closed her lids to hide the mechanical luster of her eyes from him when he should come and find her.
"Marta," he whispered.
He sagged against the entrance arch, with the bitter sound of the Leader's words in his ears: "We can be happy only in your happiness...."
Not one of them was human, not even Marta. He was the last man on Earth.
And he was immortal.
This was the thing that had been hidden from him even in his dream, lest he go mad. This silence that pressed him down was the silence of eternity.
He was alone in a world of death and dust, and would be alone forever.
He felt the breath of madness touch him. He heard the Council's sighing whisper of "Immortal ..." and he recalled the eerie sensation of infinite multiplication that had come to him when he pulled open the master switch.
He thought: How many times has this happened? And how many times will it happen again?
When he spoke, he used unconsciously the same words he had used when he left her at daybreak.