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He could have used a bath too Hell, they both could

What was it? Theo’s death? Since the supply party’s return, an anxious hush had settled over the whole Colony The thing with ZanderCaleb on the tower like that Sanjay and the others had tried to keep it quiet, but gossip traveled quickly People were saying they’d always known there was souy, that all thoseto his brain That he hadn’t been right since that thing with his wife and the baby who had died

And then that peculiar business with Sanjay Michael didn’t knohat the hell toat the panel when suddenly the door had swung open and there was Sanjay, standing there with a round-eyed look on his face that seeht, the earphones still clamped to his head-his crime couldn’t have been more obvious-I’m dead oing to be put out for sure

But then a funny thing happened Sanjay didn’t say anything He just stood in the doorway, looking at Michael, and as the silent seconds passed, Michael realized that the expression on the ht at first glance: not the righteous indignation of criht but an al Sanjay earing bedclothes; his feet were bare Sanjay didn’t knohere he was; Sanjay was sleepwalking Lots of folks did it, there were ti around It had sohts, the way it was never quite dark enough to really settle in Michael had taken a turn or two hi his own face with honey from a jar But Sanjay? Sanjay Patal, Head of the Household? He hardly see fast The trick would be to get Sanjay out of the Lighthouse without waking hiies for this-he wished he had some honey to offer him-when Sanjay suddenly frowned sharply, cocked his head to the side as if processing soidly past hi?"

The ht hand, which hung loosely at his side, gave a little twitch

"I don’tknow"

"Isn’t there," Michael ventured, "I don’t know, so He lifted his hand and held it before his face, turning it slowly back and forth as he gazed at it with the same mute puzzleed to

"Babcock?"

More footsteps outside; suddenly Gloria was in the roo her bedclothes Her hair, which she tied up in the daytime, fell halfway down her back She see evidently run fronored Michael, who by now felt less alarmed than embarrassed, like an incidental witness to soht to her husband’s side, taking him firmly by the elbow

"Sanjay, come to bed"

"This is my hand, isn’t it?"

"Yes," she replied i her husband by the elbow, she glanced toward Michael and "

"It’s definitely, definitely h of this"

A flicker of awareness came into the man’s face He turned to look about the roo on Michael

"Michael Hello"

The earphones were gone, hidden under the counter "Hey, Sanjay"

"It seeh what, he wondered, had Sanjay been doing at the breaker box?

"Gloria has been good enough to co to go now"

"Okay"

"Thank you, Michael I’m sorry to have disturbed you in your important work"

"It’s no problem"

And with that, Gloria Patal had led her husband fro him, presumably, back to bed to finish whatever it was he’d started in his restless, drea mind

Nohat to make of that? When Michael had told Elton about it the nextto him like the rest of us" And when Michael had said, "What it? What do youat all; he seeht; he spent far too nal was between cycles; he’d have to wait another fortyelse to occupy hisfor good news, not finding it Bell plus two, a hard wind blowing all day through the pass, and the cells were below 50 percent already

He left Elton in the hut and went to take a walk, to clear his , but what? There was the obvious thing, naers in a repeating pattern: 1432143214321432 and so on, the 1 closing out the sequence, which reloaded with the 4 Interesting, and probably just a coincidence, but that was the thing about the ghost signal: nothing about it felt like a coincidence

He ca about well into the night He blinked into the light A single figure was sitting at the base of the Stone, dark hair tu over her folded arms, which rested on top of her knees Mausami

Michael cleared his throat to alert her of his approach But as he neared, she glanced his ith only passing curiosity Herwas clear: she was alone and wanted to stay that way But Michael had been in the hut for hours-Elton hardly counted-chasing ghosts in the dark, and wasto risk a little rejection for even a fewabove her "Would it be okay if I sat?"

She lifted her face then He saw that her cheeks were streaked with tears

"Sorry," Michael said "I can go"

But she shook her head "It’s all right Sit if you want"

Which he did It ard, because the only way to sit properly was to take a place beside her, their shoulders practically touching, his back braced by the Stone as hers was He was beginning to think this hadn’t been such a great idea after all, especially as the silence lengthened He realized that by staying he had tacitly agreed to ask as bothering her, even, perhaps, to find the right words to conant could in with, their behavior at any given eable as the four winds Sara made sense to him most of the time, but that was only because she was his sister and he was used to her