Note: This novelette first appeared in Carneiro´s first collection, Diário da Nave Perdida, 1965. It is considered an international classic of SF. Many international publications. Included in an American selection of the Best of the Year. There is comment about it and the author in Dictionary of Contemporary Brazilian Authors, David William Foster & Roberto Reis, eds., Arizona State University 1981. Translated by Leo L. Barrow.

Synopsis: A classic Brazilian SF story with an end-of-the world atmosphere as Earth plunges into some unknown phenomenom that cancel all propagation of light. Protagonist Wladas is a common man who is helped by a group of blind people, the only ones who know how to deal with darkness. Originally printed in Brazil in 1965. Won the "Brazilian Hugo," The Nova Science Fiction Award for Best Short Fiction of 1995 (in a reprint). The Nova 2 translation is credited to Leo L. Barrow.