Titan

The clifi was as near perpendicular as an irregular surface fea- ture can be. Only near the bottom did it begin to flare out to meet the land below.

"You aren't thinking of going down that, are you?" Gaby asked.

"The thought had entered my mind, but I sure don't feel good about it. And what would be better down there than up here? We've got a pretty good idea we could survive up here." She stopped. Was that to he their only goal?

Given the chance, she would take adventure to security, if se- curity meant building a but from sticks and settling down to a diet of raw meat and fruit. She would be crazy in a month.

And the land below was beautiful. There were impossibly steep mountains with shining blue lakes set in them like gems. She could see waving grasslands, dense forests, and far to the east, the brooding midnight sea. There was no telling what dan- gers that land concealed, but it seemed to call to her.

"We might shi

The cliff face was encrusted with plants. The jungle spilled over the edge like a frozen torrent of water. Massive trees grew from the bare rock face, clinging like bamacles. The rock itself could be seen only in patches, and even there the news was not all bad. it looked like a basaltic formation, a closely packed sheaf of crystal pillars with broad hexagonal platforms where columns had broken off.

"It's do-able," Cirocco said, at last. lit wouldn't he easy or safe. We'd have to think of a pretty good reason for trying it." Something better than the formless urge she felt to be down there, she thought.

"Hell, I don't want to be stuck up here, either," Gaby said, with a grin.

"Then your troubles are over," said a quiet voice from behind them.

Every muscle in Cirocco's body tensed. She bit her lip, forcing herself to move slowly until she was safely away from the edge.

"Up here. I've been waiting for you."

Sitting on a tree limb. three meters from the ground, his bare feet dangling was Calvin Greene.