For once, she was as silent as the natives. Derek had been hoping she’d have an answer, and her silence added to his doubts. Something was out of order on Skora’s planet of god!
3
The house assigned to them had proved surprisingly comfortable after they learned to work the peat-burning fireplace. The food had been passable, if a man liked cereals and mutton. Derek had gone to sleep readily enough, to his surprise. But dawn had found him awake. No attempt was made to stop him as he walked out of the village, past the undisturbed Sépelora, and on to the low hills beyond the tilled land. Siryl was apparently right in assuming they were safe, once bread had been broken.
But his uncertainty returned as he studied the view from the top of the nearest hill. The solar explosion had hit hard at
