by Larry Niven
Rather found his breath…and found Jill watching him solemnly.
He said briskly (he hoped), “Mark says you own me. This is a thought that never crossed my mind.”
“He says that?”
“Yes. He says I own you too. What do you think?”
“I think Mark doesn’t have the right to say it.”
He was an arm’s length away. He couldn’t read her expression. He said, “It’s not just Mark. My parents—all four, or all three and a half, and everyone else too, including you, Jill. You all seem to know just where I fit and what I’m supposed to do for the rest of my life.”
“Well, you don’t take orders worth treefodder.” He was not sure that was a smile. “What’s bothering you, Rather? You came home on purpose. You’re on the cookpot because you volunteered to cook the earthlife. You’re the Teller because you’ve got stories and you like telling them. It gets you off treemouth duty.”
“I like all of that. But I’m told where to sleep and I’m told who to marry, and everyone looked at me funny till I changed back into tuftberry red, and the whole damn tribe sent me to talk to you.”
“Okay. Talk.”
“Rather doesn’t take orders worth treefodder. You talk. Are you unsatisfied with me?”
“You went into the sky and left me behind.”
“I did.”
“Is that over now? Are you back for keeps?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Rather sighed. “I like coming home. I like seeing new things too. Some of us will have to go back to the Admiralty anyway, Jill. Ryllin wants to join Booce. Then there’s a whole sky out there! Lawri says our gene pool is too little. Fine. We’ll go find some other trees and get mates there.”
“Should I do that?”
Running endlessly up the treadmill, he’d had some time to think. “Maybe. Or you could marry me, but I’ll take trips, and you’d have to put up with that—”
She flared. “You’d be making babies with every woman who talks funny!”
That was manifestly unfair. Rather let it pass. “Or you could come with me.”
“Stet.”
“That quick? Are you sure?”
“Sure.”
This was working out better than he’d hoped. “Did you work on that new rocket?”
“No. Why?”
He hadn’t thought it all the way through after all. “We’ve got time. In a couple of years a dozen kids will be ready to find mates. That’s when we’ll start visiting other trees—”
“I see it. I’d have to know the rocket inside out, how to steer it, how to fix anything that goes wrong, because I’m the oldest.”
“You and the rest of the crew too. Can you fly?”
“Sure. Oh, all right, I don’t do much flying. Rather?”
“Here.”
“You seem to have a very good idea of where I fit and what I’m supposed to do.”
It was a smile. “Sorry.”
“Maybe this is what being married is like. Anyway…I’ll go on the next trip. That’ll tell us everything we need to know. Whether I can stand it. Whether citizens can stand my company aboard a rocket. Whether I’m any good. Whether I want a mate from somewhere else. Whether you do.”
“Next trip will be the Admiralty.”
“Stet,” said Jill. She stood up. “Let’s go flying.”
“There’s nobody to run the lift for us.”
“Off the branch,” said Jill. “Fly to the midpoint. Surprise Lawri.”
It would do that! Rather began to understand that Jill would go where he would, and try to beat him there too. “We’ll have to fly more than thirty klomters out. Can you handle it?”
“Sure. We’ll go off the branch and put wings on afterward. Otherwise someone’ll stop us. Come on.”
Kendy had assembled the HISTORY file with some care. It was unaltered records, but it gave the distinct impression that Discipline’s crew had themselves decided to settle the Smoke Ring.
The population of the Smoke Ring was between two and three thousand (Kendy included children). By his original orders, Kendy must consider that they might now be the entire human race. The temptation to meddle was very strong.
He would not shape them. They were shaping themselves, and they were doing it well. For agonizing moments he had even considered severing communications entirely.
But he had things to teach them!
The Library was off when he passed the Admiralty. It wouldn’t stay that way, though. Day 2791 was the midpoint of the crossyear, three hundred and fifty-odd days away. If Kendy knew his citizens, they would celebrate, and the Library would be involved. Perhaps he could reach Wayne Mickl. Kendy had a handle of sorts on the Captain-Guardian.
Meanwhile a Navy ship was moving on Citizens’ Tree. He’d see what terms he could arrange.
Plenty of time. Kendy waited.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
The Crew of Discipline
Sharls Davis Kendy Once a Checker for the State, now deceased. Also, the evolving personality in the master computer of the seeder ramship Discipline and its service spacecraft.
Sharon Levoy Astrogation.
Sam Goldblatt Planetologist.
Claire Dalton Sociology/Medicine.
Dennis Quinn Captain.
Capability Jasper Gray Cyberneticist.
Carol Burnes Life Support.
Michelle Michaels Communications.
Citizens’ Tree
Population: 14 adults
Gavving Hunter; Treemouth Tender.
Minya Gavving’s elder wife.
Clave Chairman.
Jayan and Jinny Twin sisters, Clave’s wives.
Debby A former jungle-giant warrior, Anthon’s wife.
Anthon A former jungle-giant warrior.
Jeffer the Scientist Co-Custodian of Citizens’ Tree’s knowledge and of the carm. Married to Lawri the Scientist.
Lawri the Scientist Formerly the Scientist’s Apprentice of London Tree, now co-Custodian of Citizens’ Tree’s knowledge and of the carm.
Mark A dwarf; Custodian of the ancient armored pressure suit.
Rather A dwarf, Minya’s firstborn. Young adult.
Jill Daughter of Alfin and Ilsa. Young adult.
Harry, Qwen, Gorey Children of Gavving and Minya.
Arth Son of Clave and Jayan.
The Refugees
Ryllin and Booce Loggers. Citizens of the Admiralty.
Mishael Oldest daughter.
Karilly Second daughter; mute.
Wend Third daughter, deceased.
Carlot Youngest daughter.
Admiralty
Hilar Belmy Logger.
Jonveev Belmy Runs the business end.
Raff Belmy Their eldest son.
Radyo Mattson Officer.
Dave Kon Owns and runs the Vivarium.
Mand Curts Broker for goods from the Dark.
Raym Wilby A Dark diver far gone on fringe.
Zakry Bowles Runs the Vivarium.
Adjeness Swart Works in the Vivarium.
Captain-Guardian Wayne Mickl Officer, Navy.
John Lockheed Teaches flying and other gymnastics to Admiralty citizens’ children.
Nurse Lockheed Maintenance, works in the Market.
Sectry Murphy Bosun, Navy.
Grag Maglicco Spacer First, Navy.
Half Hand Runs the restaurant, Half Hand’s.
Doheen Spacer First, Navy.
Jonthan Spacer First, Navy.
GLOSSARY
blue ghost and ghost child Auroralike glow patches above Voy’s magnetic 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.
checker Officer entrusted with seeing to it that one or a group of citizens remains loyal to the State. Checker’s responsib
ility includes the actions, attitudes, and well-being of his charges.
the clump The L4 and L5 points for Gold. As points of gravitational stability, they tend to collect debris.
copsik Slave. (Derives from corpsicle. In the State, corpsicles had no civil rights.)
copsik runner Slavetaker or slavemaster.
dark shark A predator of the Clump interior.
day One orbit about Levoy’s Star, the neutron star. A standard day is an orbit of Goldblatt’s World.
dumbo Inhabits the integral trees trunk.
fan fungus An integral tree parasite. Parts are edible.
“feed the tree” Defecate, or move garbage, or die.
fisher plant Boll-shaped, reaches toward ponds with a long water-inflated root.
fisher jungle A large fisher plant with sting. May attack big birds as well as ponds.
flasher An insectivorous bird.
ghost child See blue ghost.
go for gold Rush headlong into danger, or disaster, or battle.
gold See Goldblatt’s World. Secondary meaning: something to avoid.
Goldblatt’s World Gas giant planet captured after Voy went supernova/neutron. Named for Discipline’s astronomer, Sam Goldblatt.
happyfeet Mobile tribes. (An Admiralty term.)
harebrain Smoke Ring bird, quail-sized. Harmless, edible.
honey Sticky red fluid, used as a lure for treebugs.
honey hornets Deadly insects. They secrete nerve poison.
huts Dwellings. In the integral trees, huts are usually woven from living spine branches.
integral tree A crucial plant.
jungle Describes almost any extensive cluster of plants.
kerchief A Dark-dwelling fungus.
Levoy’s Star A neutron star, the heart of the Smoke Ring system. Named for its discoverer, Sharon Levoy, Astrogator assigned to Discipline.
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.
rocket Refers only to the steam rockets used by the Admiralty and Seekers.
roses Long-stemmed plants averaging four meters. Dark red blossom uses Voy light. Tide-stabilized. Not found in the Clump.
smoke ring The thickest region of the gas torus that surrounds Goldblatt’s World in its orbit around Levoy’s Star.
spine branches Grow from the branch of an integral tree.
stet Leave it the way you find it.
sting jungle Smoke Ring plant, generally houses honey hornets.
sun A G0 star, also called T3, orbits Levoy’s Star at 2.5 × 108 kilometers, supplying the sunlight that feeds the Smoke Ring’s water-oxygen-DNA ecology.
treefodder Anything that might feed the tree: excrement, or garbage, or a corpse.
triune A Smoke Ring bird, large and often dangerous.
tuftberries Fruiting bodies growing in the tuft of an integral tree.
Voy See Levoy’s Star.
year One passing of T3 behind Voy. Half of a complete sun circuit, equal to 1.384 Earth years.
Directions
out Away from Levoy’s Star.
in Toward Levoy’s Star.
east In the orbital direction of the gas torus.
west Against the orbital direction of the gas torus. The way the sun moves.
south To the left if your head is out and you’re facing west, or if your head is in and you’re facing east, and so forth. Along Levoy’s Star’s south axis. Direction of the Ghost Child.
north Opposite south. Along Levoy’s Star’s north axis. Toward the Blue Ghost.
down and up Usually applied only where tides or thrust operate.
spin, antispin, dark, and skyward Directions within the Clump. The general rule as known outside the Clump is “East takes you out. Out takes you west. West takes you in. In takes you east. Port and starboard bring you back.”
BONUS STORY
THE
KITEMAN
First published in
N-Space by Larry Niven,
Tor 1990.
Chapter One
YEAR 419 DAY 110
The light filtering through the foliage had an ominous tinge: white with no blue in it, white like dry bone.
Alin crawled eastward through corridors that paralleled the branch. Slender branchlets grew airy, sweet stuff like green cotton candy, easy to brush aside. He ate the occasional handful of foliage without slowing. If nobody did that, the corridor would close completely.
Already it was uncomfortably narrow. The in tuft had been deserted these past two years.
Four boys crawled in Alin’s wake. Their rolled-up kites caught in the foliage, slowing them. Alin knew how to keep his bundle pointed straight ahead through the branchlets.
The foliage thinned out, then ended in bare bark.
There was no sky. Brighton Tree was embedded in fog: one eighty-three-klomter tree fading into an empty white universe.
The boys caught up. Stevn trailed, looking down into the bone-white sky. Stevn was Alin’s oldest son, though the long, straight brown hair and the exaggerated frown were exactly his uncle David’s.
Alin laughed at their disappointment. If Gilly or Stevn were relieved, Alin chose not to see that. He said, “Get out on the branch. This’ll be gone by the time we’re set up.”
They crawled out along the bark, fingers and toes clinging. Mist streamed past them, blowing hard. In the point-oh-three tidal force of Brighton Tree, it was amazing how much water a tunic could hold.
Halfway to nothing, Alin called a halt. “No wings, citizens. Today it’s kites. Frame them.”
Each boy unwrapped what he had brought: two sheets of fabric, four brace poles almost as tall as himself, and fifty meters of lines. Bertam was the quickest. He had the bound kite strapped to his back at the waist, and the free kite assembled in his hands, while Gilly was still wrestling with fabric.
Alin had not touched his own kites yet. Today his students would do without their teacher’s example.
The fog shredded and streamed away, and suddenly there was sky.
What had been fog could now be seen as a two-hundred-klomter river of cloud streaming east and away through a universe of blue sky. The forward fringe of it roiled as it dipped into the chaotic currents of the Clump.
The Clump was an eternal sluggish storm a thousand klomters across. Matter tended to gather in the tidal anomaly sixty degrees ahead of Goldblatt’s World in its orbit around Levoy’s Star. From here the Clump covered almost half the sky, lit from behind by a rising Sun: flame-colored, darkening toward the axis.
Other trees floated around Brighton Tree, all on a level, dark against the bright Clump. Their trunks were vertical lines bent into near-horizontal branches at the in and out ends.
A Navy spinner ship puffed toward the grove, too distant for detail, leaving a white thread of smoke.
The boys were ready. Alin looked them over and said, “Good. Bertam, jump.”
Bertam rolled forward and dropped into the violet-white glare of Voy. Alin wondered if he had closed his eyes. The wind gripped the kite on his back, the bound kite, and pulled him east.
“Stevn, go. Marlo. Gilly, go. Go!”
Gilly clutched the branch in terror.
They were calling Alin Newbry “Kitemaster” because he could fly with kites. “Kitemaster” instead of “Liftmaster’s Apprentice”; but this was his first group of students. It had yet to be demonstrated that the Kitemaster could teach.
Every child took flying lessons with wings or jet pods, when he or she was old enough. Some were frightened. Some were reckless. Some were clumsy. Alin had watched, then chosen six, drilled them with their equipment for seven sleeps, taken them out onto the bare branch and drilled them there—and lost two more to their fear—
And he was about to lose another, on their first real flight.
“Jump or don’t jump, Gilly, but
you know the choices.” Alin assembled his kites rapidly. “Don’t let me beat you into the sky.”
Gilly jumped with no grace, like a rag doll flung into the wind. A moment later the boy was using everything Alin had taught him. Left arm and leg reached out to turn him, then in again. Now he faced east, free kite clutched against his chest; the kite on his back blocked it from the wind. Now his hands and feet reached cautiously out, holding the running lines with fingers and toes. The free kite wafted east, and caught the wind.
Alin rolled into the sky.
Almost he felt Gilly’s fear. Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good tree? Wings had been new to Brighton Tree when Alin was a baby, but kites, now…Alin Newbry was Brighton Tree’s expert with kites. He’d seen his first pair of kites less than a year ago, and possessed them immediately thereafter.
The wind pulled him east. Voy blazed violet-white below him. The bound kite framed him, two spokes at right angles. Kites were more awkward than a good pair of wings bound to one’s ankles; but kites didn’t have to be flapped or pedaled. They pulled themselves.
Bertam was nicely under sail. His free kite (banded red and white) deployed east-and-inward, pulling him away from Brighton Tree. His arms bowed to the pull. Bertam hadn’t grown to his full strength yet.
Marlo was under sail too (yellow with a broad scarlet stripe). He seemed to be trying to join Bertam. Not a good idea. Collisions! But Bertram was laughing at Marlo, sailing away, racing.
Stevn (orange swordbird on black) was all tangled up.
Gilly was slow. Alin thought he could see the boy’s tongue between his teeth. Slow, but he wasn’t making any mistakes. His free kite (black stars on scarlet) flapped and eased east, then east-and-in. Gilly moved after the others, sailing, flying without effort, wearing a wide white smile.
The laws of motion throughout the Smoke Ring were: East takes you out, out takes you west, west takes you in, in takes you east; north and south bring you back. Today’s goal was to sail outward, then return to Brighton Tree’s midpoint. Still, Alin wouldn’t be too disappointed if a boy wound up somewhere else.
The East Grove was nineteen trees positioned far enough from the Clump to get decent tide. Any tree would send wingmen to rescue a lost boy. A mistake need not be dangerous. Capability Tree was an obvious target, east and a little in…