Putting Up Roots

by Charles Sheffield

  There was only one answer. He had to go down backward, doubled over as before but now stopping every couple of steps and turning to make sure that he was not on a collision course with one of the thick stems.

  As he approached the cleared area by the stream, he became too eager. He went backward faster, without looking, and an umbrella tree trunk hit him on the side of his rear end. He twisted, lost his balance, and rolled the last few feet.

  He had not come down the same route as he and Sig had used to ascend. When he sat up, rubbing a skinned elbow, he found that he was about forty yards upstream from the camp. Dawn was sitting cross-legged on the opposite bank of the stream. She had taken her shoes off and was dabbling her feet in the clear water. Sapphire, by her side, was staring up at the sky.

  Josh walked across to them, trying to act as if his final downhill roll had been planned. "Find anything interesting?"

  Dawn didn't answer, or even look at him. That was normal enough—for Dawn. What was more surprising was Sapphire's reaction. She frowned at Josh as though she had never seen him before in her life.

  "Uh?" she said.

  He recognized that dead-eye expression, wide and staring with irises unmoving. Not from Sapphire, but from some of his mother's friends. This was the final stage, the surfacing after a long, hard hit.

  "Sapphire!" He waded the stream, ignoring the sudden chill of the water, and snapped his fingers under her nose. "Come on Saph, come out of it. You're back at the camp. Everything is fine."

  She did not speak, but her eyes rolled slowly downward from the sky until she was staring right at him. She smiled, as though everything was for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

  "Oh, hell." That wasn't Sapphire. The voice came from behind Josh, and without turning he knew it was Topaz.

  "Not that." She advanced to his side. "I was hoping she didn't have any more of it left."

  "I guess she does. I've been trying to bring her out of it, but she doesn't seem to hear me."

  "You can't—I've tried often enough. It just takes time. By the way, I found out that Amy knows, too. Now we're trying to keep it from Ruby." Topaz moved closer and put her thumb below Sapphire's left eye, drawing down the skin there so she could see the exposed white. "She's still zonked, but she is coming out of it. A minute or two more."

  "Sig Lasker knows, too." Josh saw Topaz's reproachful look. "No, I didn't tell him. He recognized it for himself—he says she's a classic case."

  "Maybe he'll keep it to himself, then. I can imagine how Brewster would react. You didn't let Ruby see any of this, did you?"

  Before Josh could respond, Sapphire took a great shuddering breath and brought her hands up to cover her eyes. "I don't feel good. Where am I?"

  "You're with us, Saph," said Topaz. "You're fine. Everything is fine. We're all here. See, here comes Amy."

  Amethyst was paddling toward them along the stream, carrying her shoes. Sapphire watched her approach. "Good, good," she said vaguely. "All here. Good." She sighed and seemed to shrink in size.

  "No." Josh hated to say it, but he had to. "We don't know where Ruby is. I didn't see her when I got here. I haven't seen her since you all went off along the stream."

  Topaz clutched at Josh's arm, but when she spoke it was to her sister. "Saph! Where's Ruby. She went with you and Dawn. Remember? Did she come back with yon?"

  Sapphire frowned, as though someone had presented her with a difficult abstract puzzle. Then her eyes blinked wide. She stared at Topaz and Amethyst. "Where is Ruby?"

  "Oh, no." Topaz groaned. She turned to scan the banks of the stream. "If Saph left her behind . . . Ruby's only ten. She's smart, but she won't have any idea how to get back. And it will be dark in a few hours. We have to find her."

  Josh nodded. He followed Topaz's gaze along the reach of the stream, empty of all movement. Behind him, an odd mewing sound had begun. Sapphire, falling hard off her snap high, was weeping for her lost sister.

  They tried to get direct answers from Dawn. Josh could have told them that was useless; then he decided, good luck to them. Maybe he was wrong, and anyway what they were trying could do no harm. He left Dawn with Amethyst, while Topaz went to tell Winnie Carlson. He headed in the opposite direction, walking Sapphire along the bank of the stream. Where the vegetation grew taller, eight feet high and more, he halted.

  "Here?" He thought he could see a trail, faint marks in the undergrowth.

  She nodded. The last time she had been on a snap high, he had not seen her when she came down from it. Now he knew why. She was gray-faced and shivering. Normally she must hide away until she felt better. This time she couldn't. Guilt was driving her on.

  "Where did you go next?" The trail was ambiguous, splitting into several possible routes. He led the way in about thirty feet, glad to be able to stand upright without bumping his head on the upper leaf canopy.

  Sapphire followed. She hesitated, turning from side to side. Under the shade of the leaves it was already darker. A rustling sound above told them that the wind was rising, although under the canopy the air remained calm.

  "I don't know." Sapphire's head slumped forward, her chin resting on her chest. "I'm sorry, but I just don't know. Everything looks the same and different at the same time."

  It wasn't expressed clearly, but Josh knew what she meant. The jungle seemed different, because it was later in the day now and the sunlight sloped in at a different angle; but it also looked the same, because one group of umbrella plants was just like another. To be sure of finding your way out once you had gone deep inside, you would have to leave a trail on the ground or mark the stems of the umbrella plants.

  There was no visible trail. The plants were untouched. Josh was turning to move back to the cleared stream bank when the question hit him.

  "Sapphire, listen carefully. Did you mark a trail on your way in?"

  "No." She wouldn't look at him, but she answered miserably, "I was high. I thought I knew what I was doing. But I didn't really think at all."

  "That's all right. But if you didn't mark a trail on the way in, how did you find your way out?"

  This time she stared at him. After a few seconds she shook her head. "I don't know. I think we walked a long way in, but I don't remember coming out at all. I guess we just turned around at some point, and went the other way."

  "Maybe. But maybe not. Come on."

  Josh turned and led the way back. The group on the edge of the stream had increased in size. Rick and Hag Lasker had returned from their explorations. They carried between them what looked like a bunch of purple grapes, except that each fruit was the size of an apple. Sig was there, too, still holding the giant severed leaf of the umbrella plant.

  They were all watching Winnie Carlson, who was squatting on the ground next to Dawn and speaking to her softly. Her face was grim. The wind was picking up strength, and the sky to the west was dark. The ribbons of cloud had become fuller and lower.

  Winnie stood up as Josh and Sapphire joined the group. "It's no good. I don't think I'm getting through. In fact, I'm sure I'm not." Dawn stared at the woman and through her, with clear, innocent brown eyes, as Winnie went on, "Did you have any luck, Sapphire?"

  There was no suggestion of blame in her voice, but Sapphire looked away and shook her head.

  "She doesn't remember," Josh said. "Give us space, everybody. Keep quiet, and don't get in the way."

  He reached out his hand to Dawn, and when she took it in hers he lifted her to her feet. The others backed away. No one said a word when he started to walk hand in hand with Dawn along the stream bank. They knew that he was her cousin. They believed that he understood her, and how she thought.

  He and Dawn were approaching the place where he had seen the faint trail entering the forest. He went in confidently, as though he knew what he was doing. Once under the leaf canopy he kept hold of Dawn's hand, but he let himself lag a half-step behind. She walked on. Topaz and Sig followed, gesturing the rest to stay near the stream. Josh
decided that in the next two minutes he would be judged either a genius or a total idiot.

  Dawn made a quarter turn and walked through a little clearing, over a patch of umbrella plants, and on past half a dozen lurid green ferns similar to the one that Josh had seen on the ridge. After that Josh saw no landmarks at all, though Dawn went on without hesitation. They walked up a small hill and down the other side. Then over another.

  Josh was getting very edgy. He had been doing his best to note every change of direction, but it was easy to become confused. Grisel was hidden behind cloud, and with that and the dense cover of plant leaves, he no longer knew east from west.

  What would Sig and Topaz say when they realized that he had no real idea what he was doing? It wasn't something he wanted to hear.

  Dawn paused, suddenly enough that Josh bumped into her. He grabbed her to keep their balance, said "Sorry," and at once felt ridiculous. He was barging into Dawn in the middle of nowhere, then apologizing as if the situation were normal. They were lost, lost hopelessly.

  And then Josh saw movement. Something gray and sleek and low was scurrying away through the stems ahead.

  "Oh, no!" It was Ruby's voice. She was sitting on the jungle floor on a pile of umbrella plant leaves. "Why did you make so much noise? You've scared it away!"

  Chapter Eleven

  REJOICING at finding Ruby was cut short by the weather. As Sapphire gasped with relief and went forward to put her arms around her sister, the forest lit up in vivid purple and white. It was lightning, up on the ridge—and close. A titanic clap of thunder followed at once.

  "Let's go, Dawn," Josh shouted, and hoped that she understood him. Winnie Carlson had said that the camp would be safe in bad weather—but she didn't say that you could sit out a thunderstorm in the middle of the jungle. "You, too, Sapphire. Bring Ruby with you."

  "What about my spangle?" Ruby wailed.

  Josh didn't answer. If he was sure of anything, it was that what he had seen running away through the wide-spaced stems was no spangle. It was too big, and too fast-moving.

  He didn't wait for Dawn, but headed for Sig and Topaz. They hadn't moved, except to jump at the lightning and the violent crash of thunder. Sig turned to lead the way back, but Topaz waited for Josh and grabbed him before he could stop her. She gave him a hard hug and said, "Thanks, Josh. If anything had happened to Ruby, Saph would never have forgiven herself."

  He pulled himself free, embarrassed by her show of gratitude, and muttered, "I really didn't do anything." He turned to make sure that the others were following. Dawn was a few feet away. Sapphire and Ruby were coming more slowly, largely because Ruby insisted on dragging with her a leaf three feet across.

  Josh waved them on and turned back to make sure that Sig was still in sight. Dawn could probably lead them out again, if and when she chose to, but he didn't want to have to rely on that. It was suddenly very dark under the leaf canopy, except when flashes of lightning lit the gloom.

  "Come on!" Sig was waving, too, at everyone. "It could rain any minute. We don't want to be anywhere near the stream when it does—have you ever seen a flash flood?"

  Josh hadn't, and he wondered when Sig had. The Lasker brothers looked like perfect city scruffs, tough and rough and streetwise. On the other hand, someone had given them those peculiar and awful names, Siegfried and Hagen and Alberich. That didn't sound like gangster parents, or uneducated jobs from the unemployment Pool. How had the Laskers come to be on Solferino at all?

  It was a question that would have to wait. A sudden patter of raindrops sounded on the broad leaves overhead. It stopped in a few seconds, but it felt like a warning. The real thing could start at any moment.

  They emerged abruptly into the clear space that bordered the stream. Winnie was waiting for them, leaning into the wind. Its force was far stronger here, and her short hair was blowing wildly about her face.

  "We found her," Sig shouted.

  She raised her fist in the air, then gestured downstream.

  "Go to the camp. The others are there. I'll make sure of everyone else."

  Lightning again showed everything in vivid blue-white. Josh looked up, to see if he could follow its track, and found the sky already dark. But another bolt followed almost at once, and what he saw by its light brought him to a halt.

  "Look!" He pointed up and along the line of the ridge that he and Sig had climbed.

  The clouds were low, a few hundred feet above the ridge. Below the clouds, seeming almost to touch them, giant shapes came scudding along over the top of the hill, a dozen or more of them, all different colors, huge and round and majestically riding the wind.

  Winnie stopped urging the others along. As they emerged from the forest they all halted and stared up. Three of the balloons were passing directly overhead, stately as great sailing ships. Another explosion sounded, more muted than the crash of lightning, and suddenly only two balloons were above them. Josh heard a rattle on the ground nearby, not at all like raindrops. Something hit him on top of the head, hard enough to hurt, and bounced to the ground in front of him.

  He picked it up. It was brown and rounded, the size of his thumbnail. He stuffed it into his pocket. As he did so, the real rain came.

  Josh was soaked instantly, as thoroughly as if he had jumped into the stream. The drops were mixed with hail, stinging his exposed face and hands. Sig was shouting, "Stay away from the stream!" and Winnie cried out, "Back to the camp and inside, all of you. Keep to the high ground!"

  Josh started to run, then changed his mind. He turned. Here came Topaz, Ruby—still hanging on to her leaf—and Sapphire. Then Sig. And, last of all, sauntering despite Winnie's attempts to hurry her, Dawn.

  Josh ran back, grabbed her hand, and pulled. She laughed, and ran with him. Over the soaked carpet of plants, up the incline, on into the camp's enclosed but cramped kitchen area.

  Winnie Carlson came last. Josh waited at the door and slammed it shut behind her.

  Outside, fork lightning flashed continuously in the evening sky. The crash of thunder added to the howl of wind and the ferocious rattle of hail on the roof. Inside, everyone was talking at once and no one seemed to be listening.

  "Never again, I promise." Sapphire was so pale that she seemed bloodless. She made the sign of a cross on her heart.

  "Huh. Sure." That was Amethyst, her voice bitter. "I bet it was your last one, anyway."

  Sapphire said nothing, but she reached in her jacket to an inside pocket and pulled out five little tubes. She stared at the triple-snap for a few seconds, then dropped the tubes to the floor and crushed them savagely under her heel. "I'm off it. Even if it kills me, I'll stay off it."

  "We'll hold you to that," Topaz said. But she went across and put her arm around her sister.

  "But how could she? I mean, she's a retard." That was Hag to Rick in a different conversation, shaking their heads at each other and trying to pull one of the big grapelike things off the stalk. "I mean, how could she know her way in the forest like that, when we don't?"

  "Dunno. I think I'll try this, though." Rick had loosened a purple sphere.

  "You can if you like." Winnie had been watching them. "Eat one, I mean. But it may not be what you think. I wouldn't be surprised if it's some sort of precursor to a larval stage."

  "What's a larval stage?" Rick had the globe up to his mouth.

  "The young stage of an animal." Winnie's manner was just a little too casual. "Something like, say, a caterpillar."

  "Uurh! A bug!" Rick threw the sphere onto the floor. Amethyst picked it up and sniffed it curiously.

  Sig had kept his eyes on Ruby, who was sitting quietly in a corner with the leaf on her lap. He pushed his way across to her. "Can I look?"

  "All right. But it's mine, don't forget."

  "I know." Sig gently lifted the leaf and carefully inspected the base where it had been severed from the stem. He noticed that Josh was watching, and signaled him over.

  "You had the best view of anyone," he said
, when Josh was in the corner with them, "except maybe for Dawn. What did you think it was?"

  "The animal?"

  "Sure."

  "Not a spangle, no matter what Ruby says. It was a lot too big. And not a bodger, not even a small young one. This thing was fast."

  "A rupert, maybe?"

  "That would be my guess. Though I don't know much about ruperts."

  "Then somebody has a bit of explaining to do." Sig turned the leaf, so that Josh could see where he was pointing. "Remember what Bothwell Gage told us? A rupert is the smartest life form on Solferino, and it's somewhere in intelligence between a dog and a chimp."

  "That's what he said."