The Smoke Ring t-2

by Larry Niven

  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?”

  “Seeds? We’ll plant them in the out tuft. Mark’s talking about building an extension to the lift before anything gets ripe enough to pick.”

  “Cut some foliage so the sunlight can reach the plants. I can show you how to use water flow to move the lifts with less effort. You haven’t mentioned the fired mud rocket.”

  “That’s nice, isn’t it? We don’t need the Admiralty
’s treefeeding pipes.”

  “You don’t need me,” Kendy said. He knew the risk he was taking. It was acceptable. “I’ve been looking at records. Most of what can be done with materials from Discipline can also be done with Smoke Ring resources. Lifts, housing, clothing, food, domestic animals. Now rockets. The Admiralty even has a heliograph.”

  “No, we don’t need you,” Jeffer said, “but I never thought you’d know it.”

  “A bad thing happened to me. I don’t trust my judgment any more. My intention has always been to make a civilization in the Smoke Ring, modeled on the State that shaped your ancestors. The Smoke Ring will never be that. How can I make a State in a place where I can’t even make maps?”

  “Would we even like your State? Skip it. What do we do about that ship? I hope Sectry Murphy’s aboard. We’ll get some notion of what they want if Rather talks to her—”

  “Hide the CARM in another tree. Tear out the dock too, or put the ceramic rocket there. Show them that. It’s not advanced, but it doesn’t need starstuff resources. It may impress them. Keep the CARM manned. There are two ways you might need it—”

  “I won’t burn them!”

  “One way, then. You can’t ignore the Admiralty. You’d really like to join as officers. You may have to show them the CARM before they’ll listen to that. Demand officer status, but they may settle for giving it to just the Chairman and Scientist—”

  Jeffer laughed. “For a man who doesn’t trust his own judgment, you certainly—”

  “I think fast. I plan fast. I make mistakes.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Mark might want to join the Navy. Sound him out. See if the Navy personnel might want him. I gather they don’t like older recruits, but Mark was trained in London Tree. Karilly may benefit from going back. Is she still mute?”

  “Yes, but she’s also pregnant and happy. I’m not sure I want to fiddle.”

  “I’m almost out of range. Back in two days. The code is HISTORY. Tell nobody of what you are about to learn.”

  “K—”

  “Unless in your judgment it would be beneficial.”

  Kendy had never talked like this. “Stet.”

  The face faded. Jeffer didn’t move for some time. Finally he tapped the white button. “Prikazyvat Voice.”

  “Hello, Jeffer the Scientist.”

  “Link to the pressure suit.”

  “Done.”

  “This is Jeffer calling anyone. Anyone home?”

  “Hello? Scientist?” It was Jill’s voice.

  “I want to talk to my wife.”

  “I’ll get her. She’s on the branch.”

  That would take most of a day. Jeffer started the HISTORY file and listened to it all the way through. Then he started it again.

  Lawri climbed in through the airlock. “I didn’t have anyone but Rather and Jill for a treadmill team. Everybody else is on the branch. Now, what’s all the excitement, Scientist?”

  “Prikazyvat Voice. Run HISTORY.”

  Dead voices spoke. Discipline’s crew reported the discovery of a weird cosmological anomaly. Some of what followed was familiar from the cassettes. Some was entirely cryptic.

  “How long have you had this?” Lawri demanded.

  “Kendy only just filed it. I…I’ve been in contact with him since before we left for the Clump.”

  Lawri was coldly angry. “That was mutiny! How could you not trust me?”

  “I’m trusting you now. Listen.”

  They heard a highly formalized quarrel. Some of the participants argued for settling the Smoke Ring; some were for moving on to an unnamed destination. Kendy spoke in favor of staying, then tried to terminate the argument. It continued.

  There were parts of a broadcast from Discipline to Earth: it had been decided that they would settle the Smoke Ring environment.

  There was a message from Earth: Retrieve your crew.

  “And that’s it. Kendy got conflicting orders,” Jeffer said. “It tangles his mind. He can’t go for new orders because Earth is too far away, and he can’t make up his own mind because he’s a machine, and he can’t talk about it because it drives him nuts. If that’s all true, he must be close to crazy all the time. The question is, what do we do now?”

  Lawri said, “We can play it through the silver suit. Play it for the whole tribe. Tell everyone.”

  “It’ll start some fights.”

  “Feed the—”

  He rode her down. “There’s a Navy ship coming. The fights’ll have to be over when it gets here. A hundred days.”

  “Stet. Play it at dinner.”

  “…Stet.”

  The situation was ideal in its way. They were together, but they couldn’t talk. There were only the two of them to run the lift. It took all their breath. Jill scrambled over the rungs, keeping up with him. Her tuftberry-red tunic was dark with sweat at chest and armpits. Her hair was a golden halo, as interesting and as beautiful as Sectry’s scarlet.

  After the cages passed each other, they let the treadmill carry them round and round. Then it was time to throw their weight on the brake. The lower cage settled. Rather and Jill dropped into soft foliage and panted.

  Rather found his breath…and found Jill watching him solemnly.

  He said briskly (he hoped), “Mark says you own me. This is a thought that never crossed my mind.”

  “He says that?”

  “Yes. He says I own you too. What do you think?”

  “I think Mark doesn’t have the right to say it.”

  He was an arm’s length away. He couldn’t read her expression. He said, “It’s not just Mark. My parents — all four, or all three and a half, and everyone else too, including you, Jill. You all seem to know just where I fit and what I’m supposed to do for the rest of my life.”

  “Well, you don’t take orders worth treefodder.” He was not sure that was a smile. “What’s bothering you, Rather? You came home on purpose. You’re on the cookpot because you volunteered to cook the earthlife. You’re the Teller because you’ve got stories and you like telling them. It gets you offtreemouth duty.”

  “I like all of that. But I’m told where to sleep and I’m told who to marry, and everyone looked at me funny till I changed back into tuftberry red, and the whole damn tribe sent me to talk to you.”

  “Okay. Talk.”

  “Rather doesn’t take orders worth treefodder. You talk. Are you unsatisfied with me?”

  “You went into the sky and left me behind.”

  “I did.”

  “Is that over now? Are you back for keeps?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Rather sighed. “I like coming home. I like seeing new things too. Some of us will have to go back to the Admiralty anyway, Jill. Ryllin wants to join Booce. Then there’s a whole sky out there! Lawri says our gene pool is too little. Fine. We’ll go find some other trees and get mates there.”

  “Should I do that?”

  Running endlessly up the treadmill, he’d had some time to think. “Maybe. Or you could marry me, but I’ll take trips, and you’d have to put up with that—”

  She flared. “You’d be making babies with every woman who talks funny!”

  That was manifestly unfair. Rather let it pass. “Or you could come with me.”

  “Stet.”

  “That quick? Are you sure?”

  “Sure.”

  This was working out better than he’d hoped. “Did you work on that new rocket?”

  “No. Why?”

  He hadn’t thought it all the way through after all.

  “We’ve got time. In a couple of years a dozen kids will be ready to find mates. That’s when we’ll start visiting other trees—”

  “I see it. I’d have to know the rocket inside out, how to steer it, how to fix anything that goes wrong, because I’m the oldest.”

  “You and the rest of the crew too. Can you fly?”

  “Sure. Oh, all right, I don’t do muc
h flying. Rather?”

  “Here.”

  “You seem to have a very good idea of where I fit and what I’m supposed to do.”

  It was a smile. “Sorry.”

  “Maybe this is what being married is like. Anyway… I’ll go on the next trip. That’ll tell us everything we need to know. Whether I can stand it. Whether citizens can stand my company aboard a rocket. Whether I’m any good. Whether I want a mate from somewhere else. Whether you do.”

  “Next trip will be the Admiralty.”

  “Stet,” said Jill. She stood up. “Let’s go flying.”

  “There’s nobody to run the lift for us.”

  “Off the branch,” said Jill. “Fly to the midpoint. Surprise Lawri.”

  It would do that! Rather began to understand that Jill would go where he would, and try to beat him there too.

  “We’ll have to fly more than thirty klomters out. Can you handle it?”

  “Sure. We’ll go off the branch and put wings on afterward. Otherwise someone’ll stop us. Come on.”

  Kendy had assembled the HISTORY file with some care.

  It was unaltered records, but it gave the distinct impression that Discipline’s crew had themselves decided to settle the Smoke Ring.

  The population of the Smoke Ring was between two and three thousand (Kendy included children). By his original orders, Kendy must consider that they might now be the entire human race. The temptation to meddle was very strong.

  He would not shape them. They were shaping themselves, and they were doing it well. For agonizing moments he had even considered severing communications entirely.

  But he had things to teach them!

  The Library was off when he passed the Admiralty. It wouldn’t stay that way, though. Day 2791 was the midpoint of the crossyear, three hundred and fifty-odd days away. If Kendy knew his citizens, they would celebrate, and the Library would be involved. Perhaps he can reach Wayne Mickl. Kendy had a handle of sorts on Captain-Guardian.

  Meanwhile a Navy ship was moving on Citizens Tree.

  He’d see what terms he could arrange.

  Plenty of time. Kendy waited.