empty.”
“If he had to put up with your relatives as a steady diet, I can’t say that I blame him,” Kennon said.
“Careful, Doctor. You’re talking about my kinfolk,” Alexander said wryly. “At that, though, you have a point.” The two men slipped quietly from the room. Apparently none of the Family was conscious of their departure except Eloise, who watched them leave with an enigmatic expression on her narrow face.
They left the fortress through the rear gate and walked slowly down the winding path that led to the cluster of buildings in the valley below. It was a beautiful night, calm and clear with the stars shining down from the dark vault of the heavens. The constellations were strange, and Kennon missed the moons. Beta had three, two of which were always in the sky, but Kardon was moonless. Somehow it gave the sky an empty look.
A damp coolness rose from the ground as the evening rain evaporated mistily into the still air. Kennon sniffed the odor of soil and growing vegetation, clean pleasant odors in contrast to what he had left. In the distance a bird called sleepily from one of the fortress turrets and was answered by some creature Kennon couldn’t identify. A murmur of blended sound came from the valley below, punctuated by high-pitched laughter. Someone was singing, or perhaps chanting would be a better description. The melody was strange and the words unrecognizable. The thin whine of an atomotor in the fortress’s generating plant slowly built up to a keening undertone that blended into the pattern of half-perceived sound.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Alexander remarked as they rounded another turn on the switchback path.
“Yes. You can’t hear a sound from back there except for that generator. It’s almost as though we shut those people out of existence by merely closing a door.”
“I wish it were that simple,” Alexander said. “But doors that can be closed can also be opened. Well—think you’ll like it here?”
“I think so, providing I don’t have to entertain your relatives.”
“You mean Eloise? Don’t worry about her. She’s as fickle as the wind.”
“I’ve
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