But still... five years of silence? It was no surprise their son had grown concerned. Basil felt cold. The old researchers had fallen through the cracks. Why hadn't their green priest sent a message? He dreaded that they had starved to death on an abandoned world because no one was paying attention. The Chairman hated it when details weren't properly attended to.

He retrieved the last formal reports they had submitted. As Basil read Margaret's summaries, seeing how she waxed enthusiastic as the Klikiss mystery unraveled, he felt a growing thrill. Perhaps therewas something important on Rheindic Co. Had he missed a remarkable opportunity?

Margaret Colicos had found some ancient connection between the vanished Klikiss race and the hydrogues-an astonishing revelation in itself. She claimed they had discovered another innovative and amazing technology, but was not specific about what it was.

And then the reports had ceased.

Galvanized now, Basil left his Hansa offices and descended into the underground passageways that took him across the wide arboretum, under the statue gardens, and into the Whisper Palace.

On the way, he encountered ambitious and beautiful Sarein. "Basil, I need to talk to you. Could we arrange a private dinner in my quarters?"

"Not now." He looked at her. The young Theron woman could have found any number of handsome men to sit at her feet like servants, but she was more drawn to Basil's wealth and political power. "Where is a green priest? I need to send a message."

Sarein's brows furrowed. "I just saw Nahton walking toward the Shelter Garden." Basil picked up his pace. Without being invited, Sarein followed.

Flowers and shrubs lined the winding paths through the foliage. The green priest often liked to walk through the manicured fern gardens inside the Whisper Palace conservatory wing. Now he knelt by a reflecting pool sheltered with drooping gold-leaf willows.

"Nahton, I require your services. Let's go to the nearest treeling."

"Follow me, Mr. Chairman." Fifteen of the potted young worldtrees were stationed around the sprawling Palace, usually in governmental rooms where communication was most necessary.

Basil talked as they hurried. "An archaeology team was dispatched several years ago to a planet called Rheindic Co. They took a green priest with them, and he planted a grove of worldtrees for direct communication. I must re-establish contact with them. We have heard nothing in years."

"What's so urgent, Basil?" Sarein said, her large eyes conspiratorial.

"I just don't want to be late for the party."

When Nahton finally knelt beside one of the potted treelings and wrapped his fingers around the scaled trunk, he sent his thoughts through telink, connecting with the worldforest, searching through a million thought-lines.

"Arcas was his name," Nahton said. "He did plant his treelings there." The man's tattooed face drooped into a frown. "All the treelings on Rheindic Co are dead. Contact has been severed." He blinked his eyes, deeply disturbed. "The trees are dead. Why... why didn't the worldforest tell us?"

Basil absorbed the information, his initial curiosity and worry evolving into a more urgent concern as he saw the court green priest's unexpected reaction. Nahton gripped the potted treeling, using telink again as if to send numerous urgent inquiries into the worldforest network.