“Look over there,” Alicia blankly replied, pointing in the direction she was facing. “There’s Mercury just above the horizon.” She moved her pointing hand upward. “There’s Venus. Up from that is Jupiter. Star charts say that Neptune is just next to Venus, and Uranus is further up in the sky from that.”

“‘Pinprick holes in a colourless sky/Let insipid figures of light pass by...’” Vannie recalled. She turned to Alicia. “You came up here just to see that?” (p. 197)