Compared to the brilliant light flooding the cul-de-sac, the terrain beyond the gateway is nearly lost in darkness. The low hill that the Chairman's rambling home surmounts is sheltered by massive oaks, some rising thirty meters and higher into the night. Such trees cast heavy shadows. A person with only the benefit of a norm's unaided vision could easily miss her step. To Machiko's eyes, the hillside is dark, but the teams of GSG and SDF stationed about the discreet slope of the curving driveway provide guidance, orientation. They are beacons of warmth amid the darkness. They stand out like lanterns among the trees, the manicured garden plots, and sculptured bends of a water-course.