First published in Stellar #5 1980
On the far-flung planet CY30 II Leo McVane lives alone in a dome monitoring communications equipment where it seems his only job is to rebroadcast transmissions of the pop singer Linda Fox from a satellite. McVane finds out from the food delivery man that Rybus Rommey, a neighbor he doesn’t know very well in another dome, is dying of multiple sclerosis. She refuses to abandon her dome for treatment, and so Rybus and a reluctant McVane form an uneven relationship until eventually Rybus beats her illness.
Dick reworked “Chains of Air, Web of Aether” into his novel The Divine Invasion.
Cast of characters
- Leo McVane – operates a communications dome on CY30 II
- Rybus Rommey – McVane’s neighbor in a nearby dome
- the food delivery man