Jennifer stumbled, shocked by the movement. She blinked, trying to understand her new surroundings, but the world that surrounded her was a wall of dust blowing right at her face. She had to think quick. She undid the fabric belt wrapped around her waist and secured it around her face, instead, keeping at least some of the dust out. It wouldn't work as well as a proper air purifying mask, but it would do in a pinch.

"Murray?" she called out, slightly muffled by the belt and the dust storm.

"Here," his voice reached out.

She couldn't judge distance accurately with all the interference, but he couldn't be too far away. She stepped in the general direction she thought his voice came from and called out again, hoping that got her closer.

"I can hear you, Jen," he said.

He stepped closer and she could see him, a blurred out figure under all the dust. He stumbled forward, grabbed at her shoulders, and muttered, "Thank goodness."

"Fortuna?" she asked.

"I can't tell if she's here or still where we were," he said.

Either way, she didn't respond to Jennifer's yells.

"I'm not her, but I'm here," Lily Bow said, appearing out of the cloud of dust and then collapsing at Jennifer's side.

"Stay close," Jennifer said.

Graham nodded. He put one hand over his nose and mouth and left the other on her shoulder.

On Jennifer's other side, Lily Bow leaned away for a moment to take her head-scarf off and wrap it around her face instead, before trying to lean back against Jennifer's body.

"Careful there," Jennifer said, and moved slightly out of the way. "You don't want to fall over."

*

One moment Joan Fortuna was surrounded by her colleagues; the next, she was the only one left with the raging unnatural disaster in front of her and the dead body by her feet.

She took three steps back, just in case, then took out her comms device.

First she tried to reach the Captain, but the signal was too weak to get a lock on. The same result when she tried to reach Murray. Commander Solaris's device number gave the same message about the device not being in range as it had the day before.

"Did someone forget to fix her device?" Joan asked herself. Surely it couldn't have slipped the Commander's mind, given her reputed perfect memory and widely rumoured competence.

Joan took another nine steps back, just in case, then tried again. Still no results. But she would keep trying until she reached them. She had no other choice – she wasn't licensed to fly the shuttle type they'd used to come down to Rommys, and she had no intention of leaving Richards and her superior officers to die.

*

Solaris reached for her comms device. No signal. The night before Avery in the tech support room had told her he'd done what he could – clearly that wasn't enough to get it to actually work.

She looked around to get some clue of her location – her surroundings appeared to be yet another abandoned town, luckily not in the part of Rommys subject to severe desertification. The streets were lined with overgrown trees and drying patches of elephant grass. No street lights. Her eyesight was good but she switched on the torch light on her communication device as she brought up the map nonetheless.

If her judgement was correct and this was the town that matched its description in the guidebook, then she was only 15 kilometres away from Orphusville. And yet the lack of daylight when a moment ago she had been in bright sun was a matter of concern.

A concern she could not assuage by contacting anyone.

Solaris set out on her path, determined to make her way back.

*

Jennifer kept her left hand on Lily's elbow to guide her way. She couldn't be sure they were reaching the edge of the dust cloud, but the light kept getting brighter, and in the distance she thought she could see the vague blur of brightly coloured buildings.

"I'm sure I can find our way back," Lily said.

Jennifer breathed hard, hoping no dust would make its way under the edges of her makeshift mask. "Please, no more talking until it's safe."

The distance got brighter and brighter.

"—tain? Captain?"

"Richards?" Jennifer yelled.

"Captain, that is you!" he yelled. "Did it stick you in the dust? I'll come get—"

"Wait for us to come to you," Graham yelled.

Jennifer's throat felt thick and dry. She stumbled forward, only remaining upright due to the strength of Graham dragging her up.

One step after another, the world getting clearer, until finally they could see Richards standing in front of a boarded up store and ran free of the dust to meet him.

"Can you get communication signal?" Jennifer asked.

Richards looked at his feet. "Sorry, sir. I don't know if it's just interference, or the interference and the distance, but I haven't been able to get anything."

"Not to worry. We'll make our way back somehow."

"I just know it's north from here," Lily said.

"Well, we'll have to take your word for it." Jennifer turned to face Graham. "Can you tell which direction is north?"

"I didn't remember to bring a compass," he said.

"Oh, sir, I bet someone could tell from the position of the stars," Richards said. "But not me, sir, I don't know what they should look like on Rommys."

"Unfortunately it's the middle of the day," Jennifer said.

*

In the inexplicable dark, Solaris looked up at the sky to guide her way. She went west on brisk feet.

The buildings she passed appeared to be largely residential, in an old-fashioned style, bland boxes beginning to crack under the long-term effects of the weather. Most of the front lawns were dried out. The whole style was a throwback. She looked into each of the yards to see if there were any things she could use to speed her journey.

There was a rustling sound from one of the yards. She turned her light toward it and pushed through the rusting wire gate. A box, tipped almost flat onto the ground, wobbled over the old hose it was balanced on.

Solaris pushed it up two inches to peer beneath. Shining eyes peered back. The creature underneath made a screeching noise and slid through the gap between the box and her fingers.

The creature, whatever it was, seemed a little bit like a squirrel, a little bit like a raccoon, but mostly like a cat. It hissed, fur standing up. Solaris stayed still, palm up, waiting for it to adapt to her presence and calm down.

And then it came close and rubbed against her leg.

She knew she could not leave it there to be swallowed by the anomaly as it grew. Gently, as soon as it let her, she picked up the creature to carry in her arms. That left her to look for a carry cage at the same time as a bicycle. Well, it couldn't be too hard to find either in what had once been a suburban area.

*

Joan had made it all the way back to the shuttle bus where people waited before she got a hint of signal. Her device flashed 'this signal is weak' when she pressed in the Captain's code.

Not strong enough to get a call through, but at least enough to give her a hint of hope.

"What is the hold up?" Joseph Ash asked.

"We've had a minor problem caused by the anomaly. I will need you to get out for a moment to grab whatever edible items you've left in the town hall," she said.

His eyes got big. He scrambled to open his seat belt and rushed out of the bus.

"Is Adrian okay?" he asked, as soon as he got close to her.

"The prognosis does not look good. In addition, there may be a significant delay. I'm going to drive the bus closer to the shuttle we plan to take up to the ship, just in case."

Joseph made a disgruntled noise, the sound of someone used to biting off swear words before they could be heard, then ran into the building.

Joan tried the captain's call number again. Not connecting yet.

*

Jennifer continued to lead her small group along the brightly lit street. Why she missed Solaris's quiet presence she couldn't be sure. They weren't friends yet and she couldn't guarantee that Solaris would have found their way out of this problem any faster than they were managing without her. And yet, it felt like things would be more bearable.

Richards rushed up by her side.

"I keep seeing these purple flowers, sir," he said.

He pointed to the island in the middle of the road, overrun with weeds and littered with dropped, dried out leaves. She squinted at it as they walked until she saw the flowers he mentioned dotted here and there.

"I'm not sure that's entirely significant on its own, Mr Richards. Care to inform me why you think that's relevant?"

"Well, I saw a lot of them on the road to and from the Time Institute, sir."

As they continued to walk she saw more and more larger clumps of the flowers. They had flat open petals that looked like strange faces from a distance, just like pansies. For all she knew they could have been pansies. Jennifer had never had to familiarise herself with flowers.

"And?"

"They all seemed to face in the direction of the anomaly, sir."

"I see. Well, that could be useful. I can't guarantee that following where they face will help us, but it's better than nothing."

"No, don't go that way," Lily said. Then she stopped and scrubbed at her face and said, "No, do. We go that way. That's what happens."

Jennifer swallowed in discomfort. "I thought you told me when we met that you didn't know who I was."

Lily screwed her hands up and bit at one thumb. "I've only seen bits." She seemed to have cried lines through the dust gathered on her face.

Jennifer walked back and put a hand on Lily's shoulders. "Whatever happens, we'll get there together."

Jennifer looked at Graham, then at Richards, and nodded.

"Right you are," Graham said, and moved to their other side to take Lily's elbow.

And then they walked slowly forward again, following that floral path as their guide.

Until they reached an open park, its field full of open purple flowers, like something from a dream.