Records: moving toward the Citizens Tree midpoint.
The ceramic rocket returned ahead of the CARM. It puffed toward the in tuft, pushing a huge glob of black mud, and passed out of range.
Records: “Year 384, day 2400, Jeffer speaking as Scientist. Carm and Logbearer are both docked at Citizens Tree. This will be my last log entry until Kendy calls.
“Kendy, for your information, Rather got out of Headquarters safely. We refueled the jets on an Admiralty pressure suit and returned it. Captain-Guardian Mickl could have had the other suits refueled too, but he never brought them. Now he’s got a pressure suit with jets. We gave him some time to play, and then we told him what to do when they run out of fuel.
“We’ve had no further trouble. Booce got a good offer on the metal. The Navy was carving it up when we left.
“Rather suggests that Mickl wants the flying suit for himself. It’s something even the Admiral doesn’t have. He’s got a secret now, and we know it, and he’ll need us to keep it flying. That gives us a certain edge with the Captain-Guardian if we ever want to exploit it.
“We have some wealth and some influence in the Admiralty. We got it without your help. We do not appreciate your abandoning Rather in the middle of the raid.
“I’ve spent as much time waiting for your call as I care to. I’ll be back from time to time. If you haven’t called by the crossyear, which is three hundred and ninety-one days from now, I will turn Voice off.”
Nobody was near the CARM. The lift wasn’t running.
The CARM drifted out of range. Kendy scanned the far arc of the Smoke Ring out of habit; he had never seen signs of industrial activity there.
The Admiralty flowed below him. The Library had been turned off again.
Their ancestors hadn’t listened to him either. They’d turned off the Voice subsystems; they’d cut the fibers that allowed Kendy to fly a CARM by remote. He’d been completely cut off for half a thousand years. As he was now.
Rather was scrubbing his teeth and thinking about breakfast when the Silver Man came into the bach hut. He spit and said, “Mark?”
“Who else?” Mark threw back his helmet. The silver suit was filthy and stank of smoke. “I tried that. I felt silly.”
“Sure, silly. Mark, I saw their teeth. The older Admiralty citizens still have half their teeth! I bet Ryllin and Mishael have been scrubbing their teeth all along.”
Rather remembered that this man wasn’t his father… and didn’t know it, and had a legitimate grievance. All in a rush he said, “I stole it. We thought we needed it and we did. It was right to go. Treefodder, Mark, you’re from a bigger tree! Don’t you feel cramped here?”
“Fifteen years I’ve felt cramped. Relax. You brought back some wonderful things. You brought back the CARM and the suit and you didn’t ruin the suit.”
“You looked mad enough to kill when we came down.”
“That was three good dinners ago. I never thought I’d taste potatoes again. I know a better way to cook them.”
“You forgive me? Mark, I’m really glad.”
“What are my choices? Sure I forgive you. We’re firing the new laundry pot.”
“Is it that late? I slept like a rock. Needed it too. These first few sleeps I just lay there wondering why one of the walls was pushing against me.”
“I’ve spent some sleepless nights here myself,” Mark said. “It’s lonely in the bach hut. We built it too big. Big enough for the next crop of men.”
“Maybe that’s it.”
“Have you talked to Jill?”
“Minya asked me that. We’ve talked. Why?”
“Yeah. Well.” Mark sometimes had trouble finding words. “Citizens Tree is strange. None of us grew up the way you did. There are adults and children and a big gap in between, so you couldn’t tell much from just watching older children grow up. Maybe there are things we should have said—”
“I know about sex, if that’s what you mean…Maybe I need to know more. Two women have told me to feed the tree. It hurts. What could you have told me about that?”
Mark whistled. “You started young. Well, someone could have said, There’s only one suitable mate for you and there’s only one for Jill in this whole tuft, and she thinks she owns you, and maybe she’s right.’”
Rather let that percolate through his head. “Jill wants to make babies with me? Did she tell you that, or are you guessing?”
“I’m guessing. All I know is, when Instant Chairman Gavving told us you’d gone off with all the wealth of Citizens Tree, Jill was madder than I was, and that took some doing. She wanted you thrown into the sky with no wings. A hundred sleeps later she was sure you’d all be killed and she couldn’t see for crying.”
“I’ll go see her. Where is she?”
“Go easy, stet? You know you can find other mates. Jill doesn’t.”
“I don’t either. Sectry wants no part of me—” He couldn’t say why. Secrets. “And Carlot married someone else. You can’t imagine how bad that was. All the way home, Carlot and Raff. They spent most of their time in Logbearer. It wasn’t any better when I couldn’t see them.”
Mark said, “When nobody wants you in the first place, that’s worse. Trust me.”
“Mark, I’ve gotten very good at lying. I’m trying to stop.”
“Good. Go talk to Jill.”
“Where is she?”
“Everybody’s watching us fire the laundry vat except Jill. I’ve got to go back and see if anything needs doing. Try the miz hut. Then the commons.”
The deep voice hailed him as he entered. “Hello, Jeffer the Scientist. This is Kendy.”
Shouldn’t that have been Kendy for the State? Jeffer said, “Uh-huh. You missed all the excitement.”
“Not all. A large Navy ship is moving toward your position. They’ll reach you in eighty standard days.”
Jeffer took a moment to absorb the shock. He should have known. It wasn’t over; it never would be. There was no going back from the Clump expedition. No going back from knowing about the Admiralty.
He pulled himself forward to the control board. “That gives us some time to talk.”
The square, hard face in the bow window had always lacked expression. It said, “A bad thing happened to me, Jeffer. I learned too much about myself. There was no way I could communicate until now.”
“Lie to me, Kendy. Say there was something wrong with Voice.”
Kendy said, “The glitch was in myself. I think I have it fixed. Machines go bad, Jeffer. I left you a file under HISTORY. It’s selected records from the settling of the Smoke Ring. It explains some of what went wrong. Play it after I’m out of range.”
“Can you tell me about it?”
“No.”
“Your timing was lousy. We thought you’d left Rather for treefodder. If you ever—”
“I can’t talk about it. It hurts my mind. Damage might be permanent. Do you seek vengeance against me?”
The trouble was that Kendy looked and sounded as calm as death. Kendy never showed anger, nor relief, love, pain. It was hard to believe he was hurting…yet he was not a man. Maybe. Maybe.
Jeffer said, “Well, we got home. I assume you got most of it from the log. The earthlife food stopped most of the arguments. Now all the reunited couples are busy making babies. The arguments haven’t gone away, though. They’re just simmering. It won’t help if there’s a Navy ship coming.”
“It’s coming. I couldn’t resolve details of design. There’s alcohol in the exhaust, and it’s coming from the Clump. Definitely Navy. What have you done with the seeds?”