"That kept me awake a lot more than the piano," Aster says, impressed. "Thanks."

He'd just been willing to live with that sound, but now that it's out of his life, he reflects that last night's sleep was unusually uninterrupted, and that's awfully nice.

"Well," Aster thinks, "When the mist comes, I reckon if I hung back with the light and you went on up ahead, they might think you don't have any backup and come out to meet you. Of course, then, if the light doesn't work on them, you'd better be ready to run like heck. Think that'll work?"