The woman drifted slowly down from the dangling crop. Over her head, Rauc was wearing her Air-helmet, a veil of soft, semitransparent gauze which covered a broad-brimmed hat. The curtain bulged out a little, showing that it was being fed by Air from the woman's tank.

Frenk Waved fussily away.

Rauc was slim and wore a simple smock of grubby leather, though her arms were bare. After Frenk's departure she regarded Dura somberly for a few moments without speaking. Then she untied her veil and lifted it. Her face was thin and tired, her eyecups dark; she looked about Dura's own age. "So you're the upfluxer," she said, her voice containing the flat whine of the City-born.

"Yes."

"We heard you were coming. We were glad. Do you know why?"

Dura shrugged, uncaring.

"Because you upfluxers are strong... You'll work hard, help us meet our quotas." She sniffed. "As long as you don't show us up, you'll be popular enough."

"I understand." This woman was trying to warn her, she realized. "Thanks, Rauc."

Rauc led her beneath the golden ceiling-fields back toward the cluster of structures at the heart of the farm, where Dura had been dropped on first arrival. There was no sign of Qos Frenk's car; Dura imagined him returning to his cozy, stuffy home inside the City. Now, in mid-shift, the little huts seemed deserted: they were small, boxy buildings of wood, dangling by lengths of rope from the truncated stems of Crust-trees. There was a small, unkempt herd of pigs. Rauc said the herd was kept — not for commercial purposes — but to provide meat for the coolies, leather for smocks and hats. Rauc showed her small stores of clothing, Air-sacks and tools. There was a bakery, its inner walls blackened by heat; the coolies' staple food, bread, was made for them here. A large, overweight man labored in the gloom of the bakery; he scowled at Dura and Rauc as they peered in at him. Rauc pulled a face. "Well, the bread's fresh," she said. "But that's all you can say for it... The lowest-quality wheat ends up here, that and any gleanings we can find, while the best stuff is shipped off to Parz."