him I can think of a much tougher fate than jumping off that plate. Let's send him back to the Belt! He's going to need all his heroism to face the miners he ran out on—'
His words were drowned by a shout of approval; hands reached out and hauled Rees from the beam.
Pallis murmured, 'Decker, if I thought it would mean anything I'd thank you.'
Decker ignored his words. 'Well, pilot; will you fly your tree as the Committee request?»
Pallis folded his arms. 'I'm a pilot, Decker; not a gaoler.'
Decker raised his eyebrows; the scars patterned across his cheeks stretched white. 'Of course it's your choice; you're a citizen of the Free Raft. But if you don't take this Science rabble I don't know how we'll manage to keep feeding them.' He sighed with mock gravity. 'At least on the Belt they might have some chance. Here, though — times are hard, you see. The kindest thing might be to throw them over that edge right now.' He regarded Pallis with empty, black eyes. 'What do you say, pilot? Shall I give my young friends some real sport?'
Pailis found himself trembling. 'You're a bastard, Decker.'
Decker laughed softly.
It was time for the Scientists to board the tree. Pallis made one last tour of the rim, checking the supply modules lashed to the shaped wood.
Two Committee men pulled themselves unceremoniously through the foliage, dragging a rope behind them. One of them, young, tall and prematurely bald, nodded to him. 'Good shift, pilot.'
Pailis watched coldly, not deigning to reply.
The two braced their feet on the branches, spat on their hands, and began to haul on the rope. At length a bundle of filthy cloth was dragged through the foliage. The two men dumped the bundle to one side, then removed the rope and passed it back through the foliage.
The bundle uncurled slowly. Pallis walked over to it.
The bundle was a human, a man bound hand and foot: a Scientist, to judge by the remnants of crimson braid stitched to the ragged robes. He struggled to sit up, rocking his bound arms. Pallis reached down, took the man's collar and hauled him upright. The Scientist looked up with dim gratitude; through matted dirt Pallis made out the face of Cipse, once Chief Navigator.
The Committee men were leaning against the trunk of his tree, evidently waiting for their rope to be attached to the next 'passenger.' Pallis left Cipse and walked across to them. He took the shoulder of the bald man and, with a vicious pressure, forced the Committee man to face him.
The bald man eyed him uncertainly. 'What's the problem, pilot?'
Through clenched teeth Pallis said: 'I don't give a damn what happens down there, but on my trees what I say goes. And what I say is that these men are going to board my tree with dignity.' He dug his fingers into the other's flesh until cartilage popped.
The bald man squirmed away from his grip. 'All right, damn it; we're just doing our job. We don't want any trouble.'
Pallis turned his back and returned to Cipse. 'Navigator, welcome aboard,' he said formally. 'I'd be honored if you would share my food.'
Cipse's eyes closed and his soft body was wracked by shudders.
Slowly the flight of trees descended into the bowels of the Nebula. Before long the Belt hovered in the sky before them; gloomily Rees studied the chain of battered boxes and piping turning around the fleck of rust that was the star core. Here and there insect-like humans crawled between the cabins, and a cloud of yellowish smoke, emitted by the two foundries, hung about the Belt like a stain in the air. Numbly he worked at the fire bowls. This was a nightmare: a grim parody of his hope-filled voyage to the Raft, so many shifts ago. During his rest periods he avoided the other Scientists. They clung to each other in a tight circle around Grye and Cipse, barely talking, doing only what they were told.
These were supposed to be men of intelligence and imagination, Rees thought bitterly; but then, he reflected, their future did not exactly encourage the use of the imagination, and he did not have the heart to blame them for turning away from the world.
His only, slight, pleasure was to spend long hours at the trunk of the tree, staring across the air at the formation which hung a few hundred yards above him. Six trees turned at the corners of an invisible hexagon; the trees were in the same plane and were close enough for their leaves to brush, but such was the skill of the pilots that scarcely a twig was disturbed as they descended through miles of air. And suspended beneath the trees, in a net fixed by six thick ropes, was the boxy form of a supply machine. Rees could see the remnants of Raft deck plates still clinging to the base of the machine.
Even now the flight was a sight that lifted his heart. Humans were capable of such beauty, such great feats…
The Belt became a chain of homes and factories. Rees saw half-familiar faces turned up toward their approach like tiny buttons.
Pallis joined him at the trunk. 'So it ends like this, young miner,' he said gruffly. 'I'm sorry.'
Rees looked at him in some surprise; the pilot's visage was turned toward the approaching Belt, his scars flaring. 'Pallis, you've nothing to be sorry about.»
'I'd have done you a kindness if I'd thrown you off when you first stowed away. They'll give you a hard time down there, lad.'
Rees shrugged. 'But it won't be as hard as for the rest of them.' He jabbed a thumb toward the Scientists. 'And remember I had a choice. I could have joined the revolution and stayed on the Raft.'
Pallis scratched his beard. 'I'm not sure I understand why you didn't. The Bones know I've no sympathy with the old system; and the way your people had been kept down must have made you burn,'
'Of course it did. But… I didn't go to the Raft to throw fuel bombs, tree-pilot. I wanted to learn what was wrong with the world.' He smiled. 'Modest, wasn't I?'
Pallis lifted his face higher. 'You were damn right to try, boy. Those problems you saw haven't gone away.'
Rees cast a glance around the red-stained sky. 'No, they haven't.'
'Don't lose hope,' Pallis said firmly. 'Old Hol-lerbach's still working,'
Rees laughed. 'Hollerbach? They won't shift him. They still need someone to run things in there — find them the repair manuals for the supply machines, maybe try to move the Raft from under the falling star — and besides, I think even Decker's afraid of him…'
Now they laughed together. They remained by the trunk for long minutes, watching the Belt approach.
'Pallis, do something for me.'
'What?'
'Tell Jaen I asked about her.'
The tree pilot rested his massive hand on Rees's shoulder. 'Aye, lad. She's safe at present — Hollerbach got her a place on his team of assistants — and I'll do what I can to make sure she stays that way.'
'Thanks. I—'
'And I'll tell her you asked.'
A rope uncurled from the trunk of the tree and brushed against the Belt's rooftops. Rees was the first to descend. A miner, half his face ruined by a massive purple burn, watched him curiously. The Belt's rotation was carrying him away from the tree; Rees pulled himself after the trailing rope and assisted a second Scientist to lower himself to the rooftops.
Soon a gaggle of Scientists were stumbling around the Belt after the dangling rope. A cluster of Belt children followed them, eyes wide in thin faces.
Rees saw Sheen. His former supervisor hung from a cabin, one brown foot anchored in rope; she watched the procession with a broad grin.
Rees let the clumsy parade move on. He worked his way toward Sheen; fixing his feet in the rope he straightened up and faced her.
'Well, well,' she said softly. 'We thought you were dead.'
He studied her. The heat-laden pull of her long limbs still called uncomfortably; but her face was gaunt, her eyes lost in pools of shadow. 'You've changed, Sheen.'
She spat laughter. 'So has the Belt, Rees. We've seen hard times here.'
