The Integral Trees

Mark was letting himself be led forward, to an empty chair. "All things considered, I'd rather ride inside. I was too mad to let go. We're not really going to hit Gold, are we?"

He's turned docile! Lawri thought in disgust. He's given in to the mutineers! Are they really going to win?

And then she saw that they were not.

She kept her silence.

Clave counted ten seats and thirteen citizens, one dead. Horse didn't need a chair. Neither did the three jungle giants. Quite the contrary! But even with the wide cargo space aft, the carm was crowded.

The citizens seemed calm enough. Exhausted, Clave guessed, and too awestruck to feel fear. He felt a touch of that himself. Most of them-even the silver man-were looking out the windows.

The sky was nearly black and scattered with dozens of white points. The Scientist's Apprentice broke her angry silence to say, "You've heard about them all your lives. The stars! You say it without knowing what you're talking about. Well, there they are. You'll die for it, but you've seen the stars."

Real they were, and impressive enough, but they were just points. It was the Blue Ghost and Ghost Child that held Clave's attention. He'd never seen them either. The paired fans of violet light were vivid and terrifying. They were entirely outside the Smoke Ring, flowing out along the hole in the ring.

Anthon and Debby were keeping busy. They had moored the ponchos and the smoked and cleaned carcass of a salmon bird to fixtures along the cargo hold walls. Now they were carving thin slices from the bird. Clave remembered feeling like this when the tree came apart. He didn't know enough to make decisions! Then, he had been ready to strangle the Grad for withholding information. Now… The Grad was watching him uneasily. Did he think Clave would attack their prisoners? Clave smiled back. He made his way aft and helped the jungle giants pass curls of meat forward.

Now was different. Clave was not Chairman here. If they died it would not be Clave's fault.

Probably the jungle giants found the carm more frightening than most-than Clavel-yet they were acting to make it their home.

Squeezegourds of water were passing up and down the chairs…three squeezegourds, looking somewhat flat. Clave wondered about the carm's water supply.

He was about to ask when the Grad spoke first. "Gavving, would you come here for a moment?"

There was secret urgency in his voice. Anthon noticed and continued what he was doing. So did Clave.If their help was needed it would be requested.

Gavving squeezed between Lawri and the Grad. The summons was something of a relief. Minya's news had startled him, and he did need time to compose his face.

The Grad pointed. "See the red border blinking around that number?"

"Sure."

"Red means emergency. That number is the air in the cabin. How do you feel? Allergy attack coming on?"

"Actually, it was the last thing on my mind." Gavving listened to his body. Ears and sinuses were unhappy…eyes scratchy…

"Maybe."

The yellow number dropped a digit behind the decimal point.

"Scientist's Apprentice, any comments?"

"Fix it yourself, Jeffer the Scientist."

"Grad, what does it mean?"

"Oh, sorry, Gavving. There's no air outside. The air inside must be leaking out into the, um, universe. You know, I talk to you when I get confused. Maybe you'll come up with something."

Gavving chewed it over. "What Clave said—"

"Clave did not say that the carm is almost four hundred years old and maybe falling apart."

"Like all those bicycle gears…okay, what's your opinion of the Scientist's Apprentice?"

Lawri bore their considering stares with her lips pressed tight and her eyes full on Gavving's. The Grad smiled and said, "Better you ask her opinion of us."

Gavving didn't have to. "Four enemy warriors, six copsiks caught in mutiny, one corpse, and a Navy man who surrendered his weapon." Her expression ifickered. Had she forgotten the silver man? This wouldn't be easy, guessing at a stranger's thoughts. Try anyway. "I only wondered if she's good enough to save us if she wanted to. We could waste too much time on that."

The Grad nodded. "Lawri, if the Scientist were here, could he save us?"

"Maybe. But he wouldn't!"

"Kiance wouldn't save the carm?" The Grad smiled.

She shrugged as best she could within her bonds. "All right, he'd save the carm if he could."

"How?" She didn't answer. "Can you save us?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. Gavving found that admirable, but what he said was, "Bluff Grad, we'll have to fix it ourselves. The Scientist told you things about gases, didn't he?"

"Both Scientists did. Come to that…oxygen? We must be getting air from the oxygen tank. It's the hydrogen tank that's empty. And we'll have more fuel pretty soon. The carm splits water into the two flavors of fuel. The one flavor, the oxygen, it's what we breathe. At least we'll have some time."

Gavving studied the blonde girl's face. What did she know? What did she want? If she only wanted everybody dead, then dead they were. But there was something she might hate even more than mutiny.

It depended on getting the Grad moving, which was a good idea anyway. How? Ask stupid questions; that worked sometimes. "Can we find the leak? Set something smoldering and watch the smoke?"

"Yes! It'll tell the others what's wrong, though, and burn up air too. Mph?"

"Inspiration?"

"Molecules of…bits of air move more slowly when they're cold."

The board was already alive with yellow numbers and drawings. The Grad touched an arrowhead on a vertical line, then moved his fingertip slowly toward him. The arrowhead became two arrowheads, and one followed his finger.

"I never even wondered if we could make the cabin warmer or cooler, but it has to be true. That oxygen is liquid. Cold! It'd be freezing our lungs out if something wasn't keeping the cabin warm. Okay, now it'll be cold in here, but we'll live longer. I think you'd better tell Clave what's on and let him make the a

Lawri spoke. "Just let me at the damn controls!"

Gavving turned from her. Hide the smile. Lawri might want their deaths, but she couldn't let the Grad save them without her help. He asked, "Is it too complicated to tell the Grad?"

"No. But I won't!"

"Grad? Try the smoke?"

"Worst she can do is kill us. Besides, Lawri always wanted to fly the carm. Lawri, the position of Scientist's Apprentice is now open."

Lawri flexed her arms and looked about at her captors. Her hands prickled; her arms hurt. Her urge was to strike out at the mutineers. But the look on Jeffer's face: considering…like Kiance waiting for the right answer to some stupid rote question…

The sky was black as charcoal. The stars were white points, like tiny versions of Voy, but thousands of them. And if they roused fear in Lawri, what must they be doing to these savages? She watched them nibbling on rolled slices of raw meat, and suddenly smiled.

She reached past the Grad and tapped the white key. "Prikasyvat Voice." Hear this you treefeeders!

"Ready," said a voice belonging to nobody in the carm. "Identify yourself."

The lunchtime conversation went dead silent. The jungle giant male cocked his crossbow. She turned her back on him. "I am Lawri the Scientist. Give us your status."

"Fuel tanks nearly empty. Power depleted, batteries charging. Air pressure dropping, will be dangerously low in five hours, lethal in seven. Displays are available."

"Why are we losing air pressure?"

"All openings are sealed. I will seek the source of a leak." Lawri tapped the white switch again. "That's what will kill us. We'll strangle without air. Too bad. It would have been quite a show, but you won't see it," she flashed at the Grad.