as narrowing. At least as far again, the two edges came together,
but not at the same level. A sheer cliff three meters high now barred
his passage. He drove on.

* * * * *

Apparently it was the result of an old quake. He found a spot where
rocks had tumbled down, making a steep, rough ramp up the break. He
drove up it and turned back southwestward.

He made it just in time. He had driven less than three hundred meters
when a quake more severe than any of the others struck. Suddenly behind
him the break reversed itself, so that where he had climbed up coming
westward he would now have to climb a cliff of equal height returning
eastward.

The ground heaved and buckled like a tempestuous sea. Rocks rolled and
leaped through the air, several large ones striking the groundcar with
ominous force. The car staggered forward on its giant wheels like a
drunken man. The quake was so violent that at one time the vehicle was
hurled several meters sideways, and almost overturned. And the wind
smashed down on it unrelentingly.

The quake lasted for several minutes, during which Jan was able to make
no progress at all and struggled only to keep the groundcar upright.
Then, in unison, both earthquake and wind died to absolute quiescence.

Jan made use of this calm to step down on the accelerator and send the
groundcar speeding forward. The terrain was easier here, nearing the
western edge of Den Hoorn, and he covered several kilometers before the
wind struck again, cutting his speed down considerably. He judged he
must be nearing Rathole.

Not long thereafter, he rounded an outcropping of rock and it lay before
him.

A wave of nostalgia swept over him. Back at Oostpoort, the power was
nuclear, but this little settlement made use of the cheapest, most
obviously available power source. It was dotted with more than a dozen
windmills.

Windmills! Tears came to Jan's eyes. For a moment, he was carried back
to the flat lands around 's Gravenhage. For a moment he was a
tow-headed, round-eyed boy again, clumping in wooden shoes along the
edge of the tulip fields.

But there were no canals here. The flat land, stretching into the
darkening west, was spotted with patches of cactus and leather-leaved
Venerian plants. Amid the windmills, low domes protruded from the earth,
indicating that the dwellings of Rathole were, appropriately, partly
underground.

* * * * *

He