The Integral Trees

"You could put a harpoon in my belly while I'm sleeping. So don't push me. I have to think."

She waited. He thought. Now he knew why she irritated him with her twitchy unhappiness. He was guilty, and she had seen it. Not quite what one wanted in a mate!

Did he want a wife? He'd always thought he did, and with seven women and five men in Nameless Tuft…no chance for an unmarried man to play around in such a tiny population, but he should have his choice of wives. So who?

Gavving and Minya: married. Clave, Jayan, Ji

He said, being nearly sure he could get away with it, "Lawri, will you forgive me for murdering Klance?"

"I notice you said murder. Not kill."

"I'm not even claiming it was war. I know what he was to you. Lawri, I demand this."

She turned her back and wept. The Grad did not turn his back. He'd virtually invited her to try to kill him. Now or never, Lawri! You can add too. There's me or there's Mark or there's nobody. I might be giving Mark another reason to kill me. Do I want to risk that?

She turned around. "I forgive you for murdering Klance."

"Then let's go to the carm and register a marriage. We'll pick up witnesses along the way."

Clave looked down into the treemouth. "I see rocks down there. Good. We'll have to collect them for a cookflre. Cook Gavving's waterbirds. Tear out some foliage so we'll have room. Where do we want the Commons?"

He didn't see many of his citizens in earshot, and none were listening. He raised his voice. "Treefodder, we have to get organized! A reservoir. Tu

Anthon, flat on his back in the foliage with a long, long woman in each arm, bellowed, "Claaave! Feed it to the treeee!"

Gave gri

For good or ill, they were alive and safe, two-thirds of the distance from Goldblatt's World to the congestion of masses and life forms around the L4 point; and they would remember Kendy.

He had promised a treasure of knowledge. A pity he hadn't had time to give them more of a foretaste; but they must have experienced exactly what he'd predicted during reentry, given that they'd survived. A savage's gods were omniscient, weren't they? Or were they gullible, easily manipulated? Kendy's memory had been pruned of such data.

Whatever: the legend would spread.

I can show you how to link your little tribes into one great State.

He had altered the progrpmming in the CARM. The CARM would watch their behavior and record everything. Before the children of the State came again to Kendy, he would know them.

He would know one tiny enclave within that vast cloud. The Smoke Ring was roomy enough for endless variety. 10^3 cubic kilometers of breathable atmosphere was about thirty times the volume of the Earth! Kendy wished for a thousand CARMs, ten thousand. What were they doing in there?

Never mind. Sooner or later there would come a man eager to carve out an empire, determined enough to take the CARM, crazy enough to trust his life to the ancient, leaky service vehicle. Kendy would know how to use him. Such men had helped to shape the State on Earth. They would again, in this strange environment.

Kendy waited.

Dramatis Personae

Discipline

SHARLS DAVIS KENDY Once a Checker for the State, now deceased. Also, the recordings of Sharls Davis Kendy's personality in the master computer of the seeder ramship Discipline and its service spacecraft.

Qui

GAVVING A young warrior subject to allergies.

HARP The teller, or bard.

LAYTHON The Chairman's son.

MARTAL Qui

THE SCIENTIST Qui

THE GRAD The Scientist's half-trained apprentice.

THE CHAIRMAN Ruler of Qui

CLAVE A mighty warrior, the Chairman's son-in-law.

MAYRIN Clave's wife, the Chairman's daughter.

JAYAN and JINNY Twin sisters enamored of Gave.

MERRIL An older woman, strong, but barren. Small, withered legs.

JIOVAN A hunter.

GLORY A woman of unwanted fame.

ALFIN An older man, Keeper of the treemouth.

Others

MINYA A fighting woman of the Truine Squad, of Dalton-Qui

SAL, SMITTA, JEEL, THANYA, DENISSE Others of the Triune Squad.

KARA Sharman (or Scientist) of Carther States.

DEBBIE, ILSA, HILD, LIZETH, ANTHON Citizens of Carther States.

KLANCE London Tree's Scientist.

LAWRI London Tree's Scientist's Apprentice.

HORSE, JORG, HELN, GWEN Copsiks in London Tree.

DLORIS, HARYET, KOR Supervisors in London Tree.

KARAL, MARK, PATRY London Tree Navy men.

Glossary

BLUE GHOST and GHOST CHILD-Auroralike glow patches produced by magnetic effects above Levoy's Star's poles. Rarely visible.

BRANCH-One at each end of an integral tree, curving to leeward.

BRANCHLETS-Grow from the spine branches and sprout into foliage

CARM-Cargo And Repair Module. Discipline originally carried ten of these.

THE CLUMPS-The L4 and L5 points for Gold. They tend to collect debris.

COPSIK-Slave. Used as a general insult.

COPSIK-RUNNER-Slavetaker or slavemaster.

COTTON-CANDY JUNGLE or JUNGLES-Describes almost any large cluster of plants. A good many plants and clusters of plants look like fluffy green cotton candy. Many are edible.

DAY-One orbit about Levoy's Star, the neutron star (equals two hours for Dalton-Qui

DUMBO-A predator of the integral trees.

FAN FUNGUS-An integral tree parasite. Parts are edible

"FEED THE TREE" — Defecate, or move garbage, or die.

FLASHER-An insectivorous bird.

GHOST CHILD-See BLUE GHOST.

GO FOR GOLD-Rush headlong into diaster. Or battle!

GOLD-See GOLDBLAITS WORLD. Secondary meaning: something to avoid.

GOLDBLATPS WORLD-A gas giant planet captured after Levoy's Star went supernova/neutron. Named for Discipline's Astrophysicist, Sam Goldblatt.

HUTS-Any dwelling. In the integral trees, huts are woven from living spine branches.

INTEGRAL TREE-A crucial plant.

JET POD-Some plants grow pods that may be carried for attitude control: they jet gases (of corruption, or of oxygen in plants that favor the outer fringes of the Smoke Ring). Other plants fire seeds when dying, or going to seed, or falling too far out of the Smoke Ring. There are tropisms.

LEVOY'S STAR-A neutron star, the heart of the Smoke Ring system. Named for its discoverer, Sharon Levoy, Astrogator assigned to Discipline.

NOSE-ARM-See DUMBO.

OLD-MAN'S-HAIR-A fungus parasite on integral trees.

POND-Any large globule of water.

PRIKAZYVAT-Originally, Russian for "command." Presently used to activate computer programs.

QUINN TUFT-The in tuft (or point nearest Levoy's Star) of Dalton-Qui

THE SCIENTIST-Qui

SPINE BRANCHES-Grow from the branch of an integral tree.