"It would... if not for the Corestuff hoops." The hoops were hollow tubes of hyperonic Corestuff. The tubes contained proton superconductor, extracted from the underMantle. More tubes led up through the cables to dynamos in the Harbor which generated electrical currents in the Bell's hoops.

"The currents in the hoops generate huge magnetic fields," Bzya said. "Like our own Magfield. And they protect us. The fields are like an extra wall around the Bell, to insulate it from the pressures."

"But what's making me feel so strange? Is it this magfield of the Bell's?"

"No." Bzya smiled. "The hoops are expelling the Magfield — the Star's Magfield, I mean — from the interior of the Bell.

"We all grow up in the Magfield. The Magfield affects us all the time... We use the Magfield to move about, when we Wave. Farr, for the first time in your life you can't feel the Magfield... For the first time, you can't tell which way up you are."

—

There was no way of tracking time. The silence was broken only by the clatter of cables, the dull thud of the body of the Bell against the Spine, and the almost subvocal, angry mumblings of Hosch. Farr kept his eyes closed and hoped for sleep.

After an unknowable period the Bell gave a savage lurch, almost jolting the axial bar from Farr's hands. He clung to it, peering around the dimly lit cabin. Something had changed; he could feel it. But what? Had the Bell hit something?

The Bell was still moving, but the quality of its motion had changed — or so the pit of his stomach told him. They were still descending, he was sure; but now the Bell's descent was much smoother, and the occasional collisions of the Bell against the Spine had ceased.

It felt as if the Bell were floating, loose, through the underMantle.

Bzya laid a massive, kindly hand on his arm. "It's nothing to fear."

"I'm not..."

"We've come free of the Spine, that's all."

Farr felt his eyes grow round. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No." The cabin's small, woodburning lamps sent a soft glow into the pit of Bzya's ruined eye. "It's designed to be this way. Look, the Spine only goes down a meter or so from the City. That's deeper than anyone could Wave unaided. But we have to go much, much deeper than that. Now our Bell is descending without the Spine to guide it.

"The cables still connect us to Parz. And the current they're carrying will continue to protect us, and the cable, from the conditions here, as long as we descend. But..."

"But we're drifting. And our cable could tangle, or break. What happens if it breaks, Bzya?"

Bzya met his gaze steadily. "If it breaks, we don't go home."

"Does that ever happen?"