The Hackworths' stateroom was to starboard, and so as they accelerated 
away from New Chusan, they got to watch the sun set on Shanghai, shining redly 
through the city's eternal cloak of coal-smoke. Gwendolyn read Fiona stories in 
bed for an hour while John perused the evening edition of the Times, then spread out some papers on the room's tiny desk. Later, they both changed 
into their evening clothes, primping quietly in twilight so as not to wake 
Fiona. At nine o'clock they stepped into the passageway, locked the door, and 
followed the sound of the big band to Æther 's grand ballroom, 
where the dancing was just getting underway. The floor of the ballroom was a 
slab of transpicuous diamond. The lights were low. They seemed to float above 
the glittering moonlit surface of the Pacific as they did the waltz, minuet, 
Lindy, and electric slide into the night.