A Deepness in the Sky

Someone whacked him on the shoulder, as hard as he had struck Be

Pham pushed away the i

"The view, the view! I'm in uniform just because this is such a milestone. You heard the Podmaster's speech. Go ahead, you take a few more moments. Take in the view of Lake Park, and tell me what you think."

Behind them, Pham's i

"Yes, what do you think, Armsman Trinli?" Vinh walked around till he stood facing them. He looked straight into Pham's eyes for an instant. "Of all the Qeng Ho here, you are the oldest, most traveled. Of all of us, you must have the deepest experience. How does the Podmaster's North Paw compare to the great parks of the Qeng Ho?"

Vinh's words had a double meaning that went u

The localizers painted false-color images of Ezr Vinh's face, showed his blood pressure and skin temperature. Could a good ziphead snoop look at such pictures and guess that the boy was playing some kind of game? Maybe. The boy's hate for Nau and Brughel still outweighed his feelings against Pham Nuwen; Pham could still use him. But he was one more reason why Reynolt must be removed.

The thoughts passed through Pham's mind even as his mouth twisted into a self-satisfied smirk. "Putting it that way, my boy, you're absolutely right. Book learning can't compare to traveling the light-years and seeing the sights with your own two eyes." He turned away from them and looked down the footpath, past the lodge, to the moorage and the lake beyond.Pretend to be thoughtfully considering.

He had spent Msecs invisibly prowling this construction; it should have been easy to play his proper role. But standing here, he could feel the air drifting slowly out of the trees behind him. It was moist, faintly chill, with a tarry scent that whispered of a thousand kilometers of forest stretching out behind him. Sunlight came warm through high patchy clouds. That, too, was fake. Nowadays, the real sun was not as bright as a decent moon. But the light systems embedded in the diamond sky could imitate almost any visual effect. The only clue to the fakery was the faint shimmering rainbows that arched across the farther distances... .

Down the hill from him was the lake itself. That was Qiwi's triumph. The water was real, thirty meters deep in places. Qiwi's network of servos and localizers kept it stable, the surface flat and smooth, reflecting clouds and blue from overhead. The Podmaster's lodge overlooked a moorage that sat at the head of an inlet. The inlet spread and spread. Kilometers out—actually less than two hundred meters—two rocky islands rose from the mists, guarding the far shore.

The place was a Lord-blessed masterpiece. "It's atresartnis, " said Pham, but he made the word sound like an insult.

Silipan frowned. "What—?"

Ezr said, "It's parkbuilder jargon. It means—"

"Oh, yes. I've heard the word: a park or a bonsai that goes to extremes." Trud puffed up defensively. "Well, it is extreme; the Podmaster pushed for that. Look! An enormous microgravity park, perfectly imitating a planetary surface. It breaks a lot of aesthetic rules—yet knowing when to break the rules is the mark of a great Podmaster."

Pham shrugged, and continued to munch on Gonle's refreshments. He turned idly and looked up into the forest. The crest of the hill matched the true wall of the cavern, a standard parkbuilder trick. The trees stood ten and twenty meters tall, moss glistening cool and dark on their long trunks. Ali Lin had grown them on wires in incubator tents on Diamond One's surface. A year ago they had been three-centimeter seedlings. Now, by Ali's magic, these trees might have been centuries old. Here and there, dead wood of "older" forest generations lay gray within the blue and green. There were parkbuilders who could achieve such perfection from a single viewpoint. But Pham's hidden eyes looked from all directions, throughout the forest. The Podmaster's park was such a perfection at every level. Cubic meter for cubic meter it was as perfect as the finest Namqem bonsai.

"So," said Silipan, "I think you see why I have reason to be proud! Podmaster Nau provided the vision, but it was my work with system automation that guided the implementation."

Pham sensed the anger building in Ezr Vinh. No doubt he could contain it, but a good snoop would still pick it up. Pham punched Ezr lightly on the shoulder and gave the braying laugh that was a Trinli trademark. "Did you get that, Ezr? Trud, what you mean is the Focused persons you supervise did this." And supervise was too strong a word. Silipan was more of a custodian, but saying that would be an insult Trud could not forgive.

"Er, yes, the zipheads. Isn't that what I said?"

Rita Liao approached from the crowd around the tables. She was carrying food for two. "Anyone seen Jau? This place is so big you can lose someone."

"Haven't seen him," said Pham.

"The flight tech? I think he went around the other side of the lodge"—this from an Emergent, someone whose name Pham should not know. Nau and Qiwi had arranged an intersection of Watches for this open house so that there were some near-strangers in the crowd.

"Well, pus. I should just bounce off the ceiling and take a look." But even in the present mellow circumstances, Rita Liao was a good Emergent Follower. She kept her feet squarely on the gripping ground as she turned to scan the crowd. "Qiwi!" she shouted. "Have you seen my Jau?"

Qiwi detached herself from the group around Tomas Nau and shuffled up the walk toward them. "Yes," she said. Pham noticed Ezr Vinh backing off, heading for another group. "Jau didn't believe the pier was real, so I suggested he go take a look."

"It's real? The boat, too?"

"Sure. Come on down. I'll show you." The five of them walked down the path. Silipan strutted along in his silken rags, waving at others to follow. "See what we've done here!"

Pham sent his i

Qiwi smiled. "See for yourself."

Rita Liao made an exaggerated shivering sound. "It's cold enough to be real. North Paw is pretty, but can't you redial for something tropical?"

"No," said Silipan. He hurried to walk in front of them and lecture. "It's too real for that. Ali Lin's whole point was realism and detail." Now that Qiwi was present, he spoke of the zipheads like human beings.

The path wound back and forth, realistic switchbacks that took them down the rocky face of the harbor wall. Most of the guests were following, curious to see what this moorage could really be.

"Water looks awfully flat," someone said.