The Smoke Ring t-2

by Larry Niven

  Booce left her. Nothing terrible could happen to Wend aboard Logbearer, and this would teach her always to know where her wings were.

  He saw it all at a glance:

  Logbearer was moored against a vast wall of bark, the east side of the trunk. Coals in their retaining net burned bright orange along the middle length of the pipe. The nozzle cone pointed east toward the Clump. Some meters from the cone, live steam condensed into a white stream klomters long.

  The Clump was a distant whori of white-and-gray storm, with the misty white tube of the Smoke Ring converging beyond and below it. The eye might follow that white line down the sky…and where the tree converged to a point, there was Voy.

  The glare-white pinpoint had been masked by the in tuft when Booce went to sleep. The in tuft was gone. It had torn loose days before Booce expected it. Freed from its weight, the tree had lurched outward. Booce had guessed as much; now he could see it.

  In toward Voy, a fluttering black silhouette was haloed in blue light.

  Mishael had been outside on watch. The lurch had torn her loose. She was far in along the trunk, flapping outand-east to bring her out, just as she’d been taught. But he’d never taught her to lose one of her wings!

  Ryllin and the girls flew toward her: foreshortened black silhouettes. They made slow progress. In-and-west would have taken them straight in, but the west was a wall of black bark.

  Booce followed slowly. Mishael seemed to have it under control.

  With the in tuft gone the center of mass was higher on the tree. Tide was pulling Booce away from the tree, and in. A new breeze announced that the tree was under sail, accelerated by the wind on the out tuft. He kick-flapped to adjust. Ryllin and the girls had nearly reached Mishael. Karilly looked up and flapped to turn. She was shouting at him. The wind tore her voice away. He tried to hear.

  She kicked toward him, screaming—

  Booce turned toward Logbearer, too late.

  The lurch and the breeze and Booce’s inattention, these had caused the disaster. A flurry of coals had been jarred loose from the sikenwire cage. Irradiated by the pipefire, the bark had been drying and warming for tens of days. It had been ready to ignite.

  Under normal circumstances an integral tree is in equilibrium with the wind. A steady gale blows at each tuft, and no wind blows at its center. Air must move past a fire to keep it burning. But a tree under sail is moving, and there is wind. Coals reached the bark and blazed up.

  Booce flapped hard toward a Logbearer already embedded in flame.

  He hadn’t panicked then. There was a hose, and pressure in the water tank, for the fire would be heating it. He would use the hose to spray water and steam on the fire. Booce breathed deeply as he flew, hyperoxygenating. He’d hold his breath while he worked. The danger was that he might breathe flame.

  Wend crawled gingerly through the cabin door. Her feet were wingless, her eyes and mouth wide in terror. She saw Booce, gathered herself, and leapt toward him, into the sky.

  The water tank ruptured.

  Booce saw Wend blown outward in a wind of live steam laced with boiling water. He flapped to catch her, hearing his own howl. She was flying past him. He stretched impossibly and caught her bare ankle, and felt the scalded skin slide loose beneath his hand.

  There were comforting hands on Booce, on his shoulders and arm and ankle, for touching was the way of Citizens Tree. Rather hung back, uncertain, reluctant to take such liberties. Booce was a mature adult.

  Where was Carlot?

  Booce was hoarse, for he had been shouting, howling; but he sounded almost calm now. “Everything’s blurred after that…Lawri the Scientist was feeding me foliage and I couldn’t remember anything. It all came back a bit at a time.”

  Rather eased away from the cookfire and flew toward Voy. Behind him Booce was speaking mostly to Debby, who was rubbing his temples.

  “It never happened before…not to us. Sometimes a logging concern just disappears. We wonder why. We never find out. For Ryllin, for the girls, I should give it up. But logging’s all I know…”

  The memories must have been too much for Carlot. If she wanted to hide…a crack in the bark? Bark walls would muffle the agony in her father’s voice. She might have gone in any direction…but the cracks ran out and in. Try in.

  Rather coasted above the bark. He didn’t mind being seen. She’d have kept going until she couldn’t hear the words.

  “Go away.”

  He somersaulted and kicked air to stop himself. “Carlot?”

  No answer. It had come from his left, from the north. There: scarlet showed in a crack. He said, “I wouldn’t have found you if you’d kept your mouth shut.”

  She was pulled into herself, like the shellbirds around the ice pond. Her wings were on her back. He fluttered into the crack beside her but didn’t touch her. “It must have been bad.”

  “It was bad.”

  He tried again. “Want a hug?”

  “I want Wend back.”

  “You have to learn to think of her as a lost one.”

  “She was fifteen!”

  (“She wasn’t even two!” Jill had wailed after a sister sickened and died. Ilsa had hugged her daughter frequently. When Ilsa died at thirty-one, it had been no better for Jill.)

  (Age didn’t matter. Touching helped.) Rather worked his fingers into her hair and began a scalp massage. She didn’t move. He said, “I’ve had brothers and sisters die. We all have. You forget.”

  She’d removed her sleeves after the fluff died. The skin of her arms was smooth and richly dark, and she suddenly wriggled about and had him in a deathgrip.

  Rotating, they drifted in the sky. Rather still wore his wings; his instincts told him to return to the tree. He held her.

  She wasn’t sobbing. Presently she pulled her chin off his shoulder and kissed him.

  He asked, “Better?”

  “Yes. I don’t want to go back.”

  “Will you be all right here? Shall I stay?” Half a dozen finger cacti drifted east, less than a klomter distant. A windborne finger cactus could be lethal. These were only drifting, and drifting away at that…but you never stopped looking for danger.

  Carlot hadn’t answered. He said, “Your father might get upset if we stay here too long—”

  “Father’s made mistakes before.”

  “He tells you who to make babies with, though. Mishael had to ask, and she’s older than you.”

  “Do you want to go?”

  “…No.”

  “I thought hard before I took my clothes off in front of you.”

  He remembered swimming in the waterfall, and laughed. “I noticed. But Booce was there.”

  She freed him, and all the muscles in his body jumped. Loose in the sky! But he had wings. Carlot drifted, rotating away from him…donning her wings? No: she pulled her tunic over her head, then rolled her pants off and balled them up together.

  He looked. Now she was tying her wings to her ankles. Her clothes too. Nudity was not strange to him, but this was different. Carlot was long, one and a half times his own height. Her breasts were perfect cones, an abrupt break in the long smooth stretch of her torso. Rather resisted the urge to touch her. He spoke hurriedly, before he could lose that fight. “Now, what would happen if we really did make a baby? Could you still marry anyone you want to?”

  She said, “It’s all right. We just have to watch what time we do this.”

  “Yeah?” Rather had never heard anything about how not to make a baby. “When can you do it?”

  “Now.”

  “I’ve never done this before.” He swam toward her.

  “I’ll show you. Take these off.”

  Chapter Ten

  Secrets

  from the Citizens Tree cassettes, year 31 SM:

  FISHER PLANT IS BOLL-SHAPED, 100-300 METERS IN DIAMETER. IT CAN EXTEND A LONG WATER-INFLATED ROOT INTO A PASSING POND, FOR FERTILIZER AS WELL AS WATER.

  FISHER JUNGLE MAY BE CONSIDERED A LARGE (
400-700 METERS) FISHER PLANT WITH A STING. MAY ATTACK BIG BIRDS AS WELL AS PONDS. PREY ARE BROUGHT INTO THE JUNGLE TO ROT.

  FINGER CACTUS — THE NEWLY BUDDED FORM LOOKS A LITTLE LIKE A GREEN POTATO, WITH EYES. FINGERS SPROUT FROM THE EYES, AND BRANCH AND REBRANCH, UNTIL AN ADULT IN FLOWER MAY BEAR 20-30 FINGERS. EACH FINGER IS TIPPED WITH A SPINE. ANY CREATURE THAT COMES TOO NEAR MAY BE SPEARED; AND THEN ROOTS GROW INTO THE VICTIM. LATER IN LIFE, FINGERS BUD NEW FINGER CACTI. DANGEROUS.

  RATHER WOKE BECAUSE HIS EYES BURNED.

  They were filled with tears. Blinking did no good. The tears were under his eyelids, filling them. The pain had him whimpering. He tried lifting his eyelids with his fingertips to let the water out. That hurt. Mopping his eyes with his tunic brought agony. He couldn’t see!

  “Carlot?” He remembered that she wasn’t with him. They had not returned to the cookfire until all were asleep except Debby, on watch. She had winked at them… they had separated…

  Sleep, then daggers in the eyes. He would not have wanted Carlot to see him like this. But he was alone, and blind!

  “Clave? Debby? Anyone?”

  Rather could feel bark surrounding him. Yell again?

  He’d yelled when the silver suit’s jets gave out. The memory embarrassed him. He’d had gritty eyes before, when he was tired…but not like this! “Someone help me! I can’t see!”

  “Rather?”

  “Debby? My eyes are on fire and I don’t know why!”

  Her hands were cool and rough on his cheeks. “Open them.”

  “I can’t…” He got them open, just a slit for just a moment. The light was agony.

  “They’re bright red. I’ll get Clave. Don’t loose your tether.”

  “No way!”

  The pain grew no worse and no better. It was a long time before he heard voices.

  “Rather?”

  “Clave! What’s wrong with me?”

  Long fingers held his head still; thumbs lifted his eyelids. “You’re not blind. You’re not dying either. It’s an allergy attack. Your father used to get this way when Dalton-Quinn Tree was dying of the drought. We were too far in toward Voy. Dry, thin air and not enough sleep.”

  “What do I do?”

  “Gavving mostly suffered. In half a day he’d be over it. Don’t rub your eyes. Let me think.”

  It seemed to hurt less now that he knew it would go away. It hadn’t killed Gavving. And if they both had the same allergy, then — He’s really my father! I should tell him! Mother too…and Mark? But the pain was more urgent. “Clave, if this happens when I don’t sleep, and I can’t sleep because it hurts too much…Clave?”

  His line went slack. “I’ve thought of something. Just relax. I’ll tow you.”

  “Kendy for the State—”

  “Kendy? Treefodder! It’s been a long time.”

  “That’s not my fault, Jeffer. Every time our orbits have matched, there has been someone else in the CARM. Where are they now? I don’t find them outside either.”

  “They’re asleep. I was too. Everyone but me sleeps on the bark. Kendy, how do I refuel the silver suit?”

  Diagrams appeared: CARM and silver suit, side by side. Parts of the schematics blinked blue as Kendy talked. Jeffer saw that tanks along the calves of the silver suit were what made the legs so bulky. “Hydrogen here, oxygen here. There’s hose under these little panels. The spigots are recessed, here and here, under these covers on the hull. You open them from the control panel. Bring up the schematic, then twist above these dots, this way.”

  An arrowhead circled.

  “Good.”

  “Remember. Oxygen line from here to here. Hydrogen from here to here. Getting it wrong may cause an explosion.”

  “What keeps the gases cold?”

  “In a pressure suit? No, the gases are just under pressure. That’s why the tanks go dry so fast.” Kendy’s face was back in the bow window. “Did you find six metric tons of metal ore?”

  “Yes. Thanks. Booce says it makes us rich.”

  “Good. I see you’ve been building a steam rocket. Is it finished?”

  “Booce still has to build cabins. We’ll go to the out branch for the wood. He still doesn’t know how to hold the pipefire—”

  “Here’s the CARM,” a voice said. “Feel the airiock walls? Treefodder!”

  Clave was in the airiock with Rather behind him. The display went blank, a breath too late.

  Clave got his mouth closed. “First things first. Scientist, Rather’s having an allergy attack. You remember how Gavving was during the drought? Rather, you need thick wet air. So, we’ll close the airiock and turn up the pressure and humi…um, wetness. Do it, Jeffer.”

  Jeffer let his fingers dance. Close both doors, humidity up, pressure up. Pressure in his ears. He worked his jaw. He untethered himself and moved aft.

  Rather’s eyelids were puffy; the eyes were scarlet. Jeffer said, “It goes away after a while no matter what you do. This might help. Or not. Work your jaw to pop your ears.” He turned to Clave. “Well?”

  “How long has the Checker been back?”

  “Since the Serjents reached the trunk.”

  “Why didn’t you tell someone? Me!”

  “Let’s go outside.”

  He opened the inner airiock door and gestured Clave in. From the look of him Clave might explode any minute; but he came. They were nose to nose while the inner door closed and the outer opened.

  “Keeps the pressure in,” Jeffer said. “That’s why it’s called airiock.” He kicked out into the sky.

  Clave followed on mismatched wings. “You’re stalling.”

  “No. Kendy can’t reach us except when the sun is dead east, but anything that goes on in the CARM, Kendy hears it later. He can’t hear us now.”

  “He wouldn’t have heard us in the Citizens Tree commons!”

  “Yeah. Clave, the truth is that I didn’t trust anyone else to talk to Kendy. I don’t trust Kendy, and he’s very persuasive.”

  “Am I too fluff-brained to say no?”

  “Clave…all right, so I was arrogant and wrongheaded. Now let’s go tell the Serjents.”

  “Uh—”

  “Hey, citizens!” It wasn’t really a shout, but Clave’s long fingers closed over Jeffer’s face. After a moment the palm lifted to expose an evil grin.

  Clave said, “You still should have told me. Rather didn’t see anything. Did you tell Lawri?”

  “No.”

  “What does Kendy want?”

  “He wants the Clump. He wants to know everything about the Clump.”

  “This trip was his idea, wasn’t it?”

  “I told you he’s persuasive. Clave, we have to tell Rather about this before he talks to anyone. He already knows too much. Nobody else, right?”

  “Right. Then I want to talk to Kendy.”

  “He comes in range every four days lately. Four days from now, when the sun is dead east.”

  Jeffer found Rather in the Scientist’s seat, hands poised above the controls. “Freeze,” he said. “Now move away.”

  Rather obeyed. “I was trying to open the airlock.”

  “Use the little lights on the doors. Rather, any citizen knows better than to fiddle with the controls. Once I nearly killed us all with one ill-considered tap of one finger. But I don’t have to explain that to you. I only have to say, Jeffer captains the CARM, keep your tree-feeding hands off the controls. Stet?”

  “Stet. Sorry, Jeffer. I’ve seen you open the doors, and I was feeling shut in.”

  “How are your eyes?”

  “Okay.”

  He held still while Jeffer looked. Rather’s eyes were pink and the lids were puffy, but he didn’t blink. “From now on you sleep in the CARM with me. I should have someone here anyway in case we get shaken up when the tuft tears loose.”

  Rather had already summoned the blue diagram of the CARM’s cabin. Jeffer opened his fingers over the lines that represented the airlock. The doors opened behind him. He sai
d, “Help me get the hose linked up. Then take it outside.”

  Booce met them at the door. “I’ll take that, Rather. We’re filling the rocket. How are you doing?”

  “Better.”

  Debby, Clave, and Carlot waited at the rocket. Booce and Rather crawled along the bark, dragging the hose after them. Booce spoke quietly. “Did you know that Carlot was a crossyear child?”

  “No. What’s it mean? The crossyear is when Voy crosses the sun—”

  “Children born at the crossyear are unpredictable. They can go any way at all. Rather, I’m trying to tell you that you and Carlot are not to marry. She’ll marry a logger.”

  Rather didn’t answer. Carlot’s expression was unreadable until the moment Booce’s back was turned. Then she winked. Rather felt his face glowing.

  To work. Booce forced the hose into the rocket nozzle.

  “Jeffer says he can fill it without anyone sucking on the end. Clave, give us a hand here. Now push. Jeffer! Ready?”

  The three were braced to hold the hose in place. Clave said, “There’s a signal Jeffer uses that tells the CARM to push what’s in the water tank back out. It gets rid of mud—”

  The hose writhed. Water sprayed out around the join. Rather could feel the power of the water trying to tear the hose out of his hands.

  They held it, held it…and suddenly the hose bucked loose and thrashed like a live thing. Rather dodged and was flailing in the sky. Booce bellowed, “Enough! Jeffer, it’s full!”

  They were soaked before the hose went limp. Jeffer called cheerily from the airlock. “When do we see a test?”

  Booce looked embarrassed. “I still don’t know how to substitute for the sikenwire. We’ve got time—”

  “Yeah. Well, we’ve used up too much water, one way and another. I want to refuel the CARM. Clave, Rather, come along. We won’t be long, Booce. The rest of you can start dinner.”

  The three of them returned to the CARM. Clave asked, “What do we do for a pump?”