«During such a short night
that two men could have shaken hands,
being one in Tuesday and the other in Wednesday.»
Dictionary of the Khazars, by Milorad Pavic
 The discovery of an anomaly derived from the human race was not the only incident
to shake the history of the second half of the century. Another event occurred;
of this one, however, few knew. Each person involved became a piece of an inextricable
puzzle, with all that implies being a segment of reality: knowledge of proper
form and content but ignorance about the final view. Miranda Macedonia was conscious
of it.
Although that day she was to arrive at her job at the usual time, she left
with hours to spare. She drove towards the center of the city from her home
in the outskirts, in the west sector, but as soon as she began her voyage she
decided to deviate from her course to make her way north. The maroon clouds,
less thick than usual, gave her hope that the faint light of that sunny day
would improve her mood. When she drove in a straight line from her house in
the Wheat Desert, she was always under a dark cloud. The potent lights of her
car were activated, although this was not necessary because the autopilot did
not need light to drive; rather, it was a courtesy to the passenger. She could
not see the sky above her, or the ground below. Only a maroon stain wounded
by light cutlasses in rotation.
The city exhibited filthiness. The term had evolved so as to conjugate in
one word its garbage and urbane character: Cirty. On the ground and
on the capitols of buildings hundreds of meters above it, the gaseous contamination
was the same, yet, closer to the ground, the particles stuck to the exterior
surface of buildings like a constantly growing maroon scar. | 
