‘Sean. Leave the engine and come with me. You have to see what’s happening in the sky.’ Sean shucked on his thermal outerwear and walked out to join her. It was the end of their third winter week, an unusually calm night with virtually no wind to speak of—one of the first occasions in this winter sojourn that Sean had seen it so still. ‘Come away from the base. We have to get away from the lights and the engine noise.’ Lauren took Sean’s hand, and they walked together for a while, their rubber bunnyboots squeaking on the fresh scattering of dry snow which had fallen earlier in the day. When his eyes had adjusted, Sean whistled in amazement. The moon, platinum brilliant, was surrounded by a number of concentric circles of coloured light which shimmered and pulsed as if fired by some internal force. The effect was as if a rainbow had somehow gatecrashed the winter night and decided, for the fun of it, to play rings around the moon, each bangle a fusion of iridescent reds and greens.
