The Smoke Ring

“Mmm…yeah. You’ve been thinking hard about this.”

“I can solve simple mechanical problems. What will you do with the CARM when you reach the Clump?”

Clave was still studying the diagram. “We’ll hide it before we get there. Take the log in with the steam rocket. Take our time selling it.”

“You’ll want to keep the CARM safe, but near enough for rescue if something goes wrong. Now, the Clump is more crowded than the Smoke Ring in general, but one may still think of it as mostly empty space. Two thousand people won’t crowd a region the volume of the Earth’s Moon! You’ll find plenty of hiding space.”

“Kendy, we can’t steer the CARM into the Clump and just look around! We’d be seen!”

“I have a better view of the Clump than you do, even if it’s not a good view. If you approached from north or south of the Clump—”

“What we’ll do is take the log in, then look around while we’re selling the wood. If we find a safe way in, we’ll take it.”

“Another thing you might consider,” Kendy said. “The CARM is power. There may come a time when we’ll want to use that power…” Kendy’s voice and picture faded.

“Well, that’s that.” Jeffer left his seat. He stretched elaborately. “Let’s go out. Take some spears. We’ll get us some waterbirds before we turn back.”

They moved out. Clave said, “Well?”

“Now do you see what I mean? He wants the CARM inside the Clump. He wants it bad. If he can get some Admiralty citizens into the CARM, he could look them over and question them.”

“He didn’t say anything unreasonable,” Clave said.

“Persuasive, isn’t he? All right, think about this. There occurred an accident that allowed Chairman Clave to see the Checker talking to the Scientist. That happened after Kendy was sure he couldn’t talk me into this.”

Clave smiled. “An interesting coincidence. The CARM has outside cameras, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. And Booce would like to be rich so that he can give up logging. Do you think Kendy could persuade Booce to trade the CARM to the Navy for metal?”

The smile slipped. “We’ll do it your way. Rather, this stops with us. All of it. Now shall we get us some waterbirds?”

“I said that to get us outside,” Jeffer said.

“Let’s do it anyway.”

Chapter Eleven

Happyfeet

from the Admiralty Library, year 131 SM, day 160:

VOICE HAS SET US THE TASK OF INTEGRATING THE DESERTERS — EXCUSE ME, WANDERERS — INTO THE ADMIRALTY. IT WILL CERTAINLY TAKE GENERATIONS. EXEC WILLOUGHBY ADMITS THAT IT MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE, AND I’VE COME TO AGREE.

HALF A DOZEN COTTON-CANDY JUNGLES NOW TRADE REGULARLY IN THE CLUMP, MEETING AT THE CROSSYEAR. THEY OBEY ADMIRALTY LAW, WHERE ADMIRALTY NAVY IS PRESENT TO ENFORCE IT. OUTSIDE THE CLUMP THERE IS PIRACY AND SLAVE-TAKING. WE BELIEVE THAT THE SEEKERS AND THE LUPOPF FAMILY WERE INVOLVED IN SUCH INCIDENTS, THOUGH THEY WERE THE FIRST TO TRADE IN THE MARKET.

WE CANNOT BRING LAW TO THIRTY EARTH-VOLUMES OF INHABITABLE TERRITORY. THE SMOKE RING IS TOO HUGE, AND WE ARE TOO FEW AND TOO SLOW.

BRILLIANT AS IT WAS, THE NEUTRON STAR WAS TOO small to give much illumination. Yet the sky was never dark, even at crossyear, when the sun at nadir had to shine through the full thickness of the Smoke Ring’s farther arc.

One must seek darkness in a cloud or a jungle or a tree tuft, or in the unoccupied depths of the Clump.

Now the sun was dead east, somewhere behind the slowly roiling blotch that was their destination. It was gloomy in the shadow of the Clump. Masses near the white-fringed black mass seemed to blaze in contrast.

“We’re better than halfway home,” Booce said. “Debby, I’ve been looking for more pod plants. The last thing I ever wanted was to come home with a pod for my cabin, but we don’t have time to build real cabins.”

“The rocket’s finished otherwise?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” Debby had been working hard. Her tunic was off and her pale skin glistened with sweat. “Now, how do we make it work?”

“Trade secret.”

Debby regarded Booce angrily. “We built the treefeeding thing. You won’t tell us how to make it go?”

“Classified, Debby.”

“Will you tell us how to make it stop? In an emergency, if you and Carlot aren’t in reach, how do I stop it from just burning up?”

“We’ll get an extra pod and fill it with water to pour on the pipefire—”

“Very good! Now, suppose you and Carlot both fall off the tree and lose your wings and we’ve got to come after you. Suppose you left the rocket going. What do I want to do?”

Booce found her persistence disturbing. “Use the CARM, I suppose—”

“The CARM is gone.”

“They’re only refueling it.”

“It could be gone again!”

“Then use your wings. Don’t try to use the rocket. That’s dangerous.”

Debby glared and was silent. She was Booce’s height and almost Booce’s age, marked by a dangerous and exotic beauty. Pale-brown skin, pale straight hair, fiery blue eyes; a face all planes and angles, with a nose like an axe head. She was the type of woman who would remake a man, who would run his life for him. As Ryllin was. And Ryllin was far away…and ifBooce carried that thought further, Ryllin would know somehow, and Booce would regret it greatly. Booce looked at the sky to escape Debby’s eyes.

He’d been watching the sky for days now. They were closing on the Clump. Matter would be thicker here, even this far in: more ponds, plant life, animals, predators, perhaps Navy craft or wandering happyfeet.

West of out, almost behind the log’s remaining tuft, he found paired bright and dark dots: the pond and the CARM. No sign of pod plants. Would they have to cut wood from the out branch after all? Branchwood was better…but it was hard work, and the cabins would be crude.

Debby was still fuming. “You know, arguing isn’t the thing I do best. But Clave is going to have this out of you, because it’s stupid not to tell us how to use the basic logger’s tool. Won’t the Admiralty expect us to know — ?”

“No. You’re hired labor.”

“Right. I forgot.”

The days went fast this close to Voy: nine days between waking and waking. North and west, the reddish fringe of the Clump’s shadow was sliding rapidly down a tremendous wall of cloud. Storm and lightning inside, and ponds forming…The line of sunlight picked out a green dot, a drifting jungle emerging from the fringes of the storm.

Carlot suddenly asked, “Debby, should we know how to use the CARM?”

“Yes. Yes, we should know how to run the CARM! Treefeeding fools they are, Lawri and Jeffer both.”

Booce was jolted. “Debby? You can’t fly the CARM?”

“Nobody knows but the Scientists. Classified. Lawri I can understand. But Jeffer, he stole the thing himself, and now he acts just like her! Fifteen years, almost!”

“Dad? She’s right. We should all of us know all of that, and we have to start somewhere.”

Booce sighed. Crossyear child! Playing around with a dwarf tree dweller…but the women always won the arguments. “Debby, as far as any Admiralty citizen is concerned, you know nothing about how a rocket works. Understand?”

“Yes, Logger Booce. Now, what is it you loggers have been concealing from us laborers?”

“Go ahead, Carlot.”

Carlot considered before she spoke. “All right. Just the way you taught me. Debby, you’ll have to imagine the sikenwire in a tube around the pipe. I stuff firebark inside and light it.”

Debby nodded.

“The coals are just along the middle of the pipe, not too close to the ends. I wait. I want the metal to get hot. It should glow red. Hotter than that, the nozzle starts to char. That’s bad. So I run water through the pipe. The metal stays dark red, and steam comes out the nozzle. You can’t see it where it comes out, but it can flay the flesh from your bones, so stay clear.”