ionally by the gleaming, transparent domes of establishments there were new blank spaces. The location of scattered life in Red Earth's area of responsibility, home to Rack and Beautiful Wings, was engraved on their minds—a map with each life in its place. And as they soared past the coastal sands they noted a blank. Growing Tree the Far Seer, coresponsor of Red Earth, was gone. It was as if, on a large board strewn with lights, a light had gone out. And, as they continued toward the interior, other establishments void of life cast a pall of gloom over the feeling of peace that had flooded them at the first sight of the western lands. The end-of-circle storms had started moving earlier than ever before and were more severe. It was fortunate, Rack thought, that soaring on his power was less debilitating than moving on the surface. When at last they were hovering over Red Earth's establishment, he sent his mind down, encountering the heat of pleasure below. Red Earth was with his Keeper. Mouth to mouth with Beautiful Wings, Rack waited. After a time he sent, «I am Rack the Healer.» He was pleased to receive a quick flush of pleasure from Red Earth, but the pleasure was soon damped by surprise, questioning, and a heavy sense of duty. Rack answered, «No, I am not dead. Nor is Beautiful Wings.» «You have come back, then, to submit to the judgment of the law-givers?» Rack sent the strongest anger and contempt he could muster. «Growing Tree the Far Seer is dead before his time. Gone are Strong Swimmer the Healer, Quick Soar the Power Giver, and others in the eastern marches of the area. The storms are early and the Breathers labor in the establishments. At such a time will you be bound by your petty traditions?» «It is all heavy on my mind,» Red Earth admitted. «What is your reason for returning, then?» «I bring a message of gloom from the Far Seers of the east,» Rack said. «Would you hear in peace?» «Welcome in peace.» Red Earth had not changed, but an aura of sadness hung over Red Earth's establishment. The air was pure and good and Rack used it sparingly. Beautiful Wings was allowed more freedom of breath, since Red Earth was observing the rules of privacy and had not scanned their minds to discover the secret of her good condition after a long soar. «I have many questions,» Red Earth said. «But first, what is the message?» He received the news of impending doom with no show of emotion. After a long time he sighed, expelling his air. «We have read the same. But I would like to confirm the conditions in the breeding grounds of the Breathers.» He sighed again. «I hesitate, however, to consume the substance of a Power Giver and I must admit, I cringe at the thought of going into the outside under such adverse conditions as now exist.» «There is a way,» Rack said. He was not sure that it would work, but the situation was serious enough to warrant any experiment. Red Earth was nonplussed. The mind of a Far Seer would be required to measure the huge, but decreasing picture of Breathers in their broad field of surface slime in the southern sea. Rack said, «I ask your indulgence to break one of the rules of privacy.» «In what cause?» Red Earth asked. «Life,» he said simply. «A potent argument. You may act.» Rack walked across the room and stood behind the Far Seer. Overcoming his own distaste at what he was about to do, he bent quickly and pressed his small tongue to the bare flesh of the Far Seer's domed head. The act proceeded with surprising simplicity. There was not the pleasure involved in merging with Beautiful Wings, but it was not, he found, distasteful. His flesh melted into the flesh of the Far Seer. Red Earth's mind registered high surprise, but also a quickness of understanding that awed Rack. «Now I understand,» Red Earth sent excitedly. But there was something in the Far Seer's mind that made Rack feel uncomfortable, even as he continued to merge and began to make repairs on the body of Red Earth. There was a thought below the readable level; it grew stronger and stronger until it burst out as it became obvious that the Healer's powers were being extended into the Far Seer's body. «Hail, New One. Hail, New One.» «No,» Rack said, feeling a flush of embarrassment. «I am Rack the Healer.» The process continued, cell by cell, fiber by fiber, organ by organ. A sense of excitement spread from the agitated Far Seer into Rack's mind and into the mind of Beautiful Wings. Red Earth, in his dreams, had been expecting a completely new form, as different from present life forms as the first Healer was different from the Old Ones. Nature, always guileful, had duped them, sending the New One in a common form, but Red Earth was capable of understanding the import. Beautiful Wings thought only that Rack's new ability would undoubtedly save him from being punished for past crimes. She took a small, selfish pleasure in basking in the glow of Red Earth's near-adoration of Rack, who, when he had finished, had left the Far Seer in better health than he had enjoyed since his youth. She could not feel seriously threatened by the predictions of the Far Seers. Her world was good. She had Rack and a rare, lasting love. Their position was secure. They were home. Red Earth's mind, stimulated by the realization of a dream, blessed the infallibility of all-knowing nature and speculated wildly about the future. He was brought up short when it was revealed that Rack's union with Beautiful Wings had produced a child. «A Keeper,» Rack told him. «She was left in the care of a young Far Seer of the east.» «No, no, that cannot be,» Red Earth said, forgetting himself and searching the mind of Beautiful Wings for confirmation. Nature would not deliver a New One and then let him be wasted in death without having passed on his abilities. «Perhaps,» he mused, «the Keeper is also different.» «She seemed as all Keepers,» Rack said, remembering his disappointment. «You will breed again, then,» Red Earth said. «Perhaps,» Rack agreed. «The experience was a repeated one.» «Yes, you will breed again,» Red Earth continued, excited once more. «When you tint we will select the most suitable mate.» He felt the flare of jealousy from Beautiful Wings, sent soothing things, and said, «Perhaps it will be you, since your attachment is strong.» It was truly a time for great things. To demonstrate his ability, Rack, after eating hungrily and breathing deeply to rebuild himself, merged with Red Earth's Keeper, planting the technique in her storage banks as he felt her blood, her body, her organs. Then Rack and Beautiful Wings, with Red Earth feeding the data to his Keeper, told of their flight to the east, sending detailed pictures of all their activities there. Thus was history served, for it was the duty of all to record knowledge. In return Rack was briefed on conditions at home and they were discouraging. The discussion returned to Rack's statement that something could be done to allow Red Earth to measure the Breathers in their home waters. At first Red Earth was skeptical, but after a demonstration during which Beautiful Wings merged with Rack, encompassed both Rack and Red Earth in her field of power, and lifted them from the floor, he was convinced. It was a strange grouping that emerged a short time later from the roiling clouds into the thin, upper air. Face to face, merged, were Rack and Beautiful Wings. Back to back with Rack, Red Earth was making a rare soar, his mind seeing all, feeling the far suns, contacting the face of the satellite, measuring the scant spray of air particles in the vast heights. He let his pleasure flow and it was joined to the never-old pleasure of Beautiful Wings and Rack, who had soared higher and longer than any Healer and Power Giver in history. Rack laughed, seeing the bright satellite in the sky, and playfully repeated his boast that with his vitality and the power of Beautiful Wings, he could send them all soaring there. But he was sobered when Red Earth, using the distance around the planet as a base, sent a picture of the distance and a calculation of the energies involved. Then the southern sea was below. They lowered through the dense clouds and found only minimum conditions at the surface. Red Earth directed the flight of the Power Giver, crossing the area again and again, his mind storing pictures so vast that they would not stick in Rack's mind. Since the air was scarce and the hard projectiles plentiful, it was necessary for Rack to break his merge with Beautiful Wings, and to merge with Red Earth and heal him. When he was finished, he turned back to Beautiful Wings and was shocked to see how quickly the heavy burden had sapped her. He felt himself flow out, giving gladly and feeling a tenderness that made Red Earth squirm with embarrassment. «You are never to soar without me,» Rack said sternly. He was unable to bear the thought of her using her own substance, being weakened. «Yes,» she said gladly. «Yes.» After a time of mutual healing back in Red Earth's establishment, the Far Seer went into rapport with his Keeper. For a long period, he compared his pictures, drawing occasionally on the minds of his fellow Far Seers and the storage banks of their Keepers. Rack and Beautiful Wings drew fresh Breathers from the Eastern Establishment and replenished his old establishment, emptied during his absence. Their home was a dome of transparency, for Rack liked to see the outside. The inside was filled with good air and happiness. Beautiful Wings slept peacefully as Rack watched. He saw that Red Earth had valued his hard-material nuggets so little that they had been left in his establishment. Outside, the survival factor was negative in his immediate area and the severity of the toxicity dampened his emotions. The readings of Red Earth confirmed the predictions of the Far Seers of the east. He announced his findings, making individual contacts with far-flung Far Seers, but added that all hope was not lost. He called for a council in the Eastern Establishment. He did not reveal the source of his hope as it was now only a wild dream. But already one of his dreams had come true with Rack's discovery of his new power. Selected Power Givers transported Healers and Far Seers to the council. There was a drain on all, for the storms were peaking. Rack, feeling the damage, wanted to heal them all, but he knew, by some instinctive measuring, that it would be impossible, that it would result only in his own depletion. The gathering, although it was representative of the entire area of Red Earth, was small. The council began with a dry, long-winded recital of the observations of the Far Seers, confirming once again the great threat to life on the planet. The corroborating observations of the eastern Far Seers were presented. New deaths were reported in sad pictures. Predictions of more deaths left the gathering silent. No one could