The Xeelee were much more powerful than humans. Perhaps they always would be. And perhaps, as a corollary, they were much more wise.

So, some apologists began to argue, humans should trust in the Xeelee rather than oppose them. The Xeelee's ways were incomprehensible but must be informed by great wisdom. The apologists developed a philosophy which was accepting, compliant, calm, and trusting in an understanding above any human's.

Adda went on, "We followed the way of the Xeelee, you see, Dura; not the way of the Committee of Parz. We would not obey." He shook his head. "So they sent us away. And in that we were lucky; now they might simply have destroyed us on their Wheels."

Deni Maxx touched Dura's shoulder. "You should leave now."

"We'll be back."

"No." Adda was shifting with ghastly slowness in his cocoon of bindings, evidently trying to relieve his pain. "No, don't come back. Get away. As far and as fast as you can. Get away..."

His voice broke up into a bubbling growl, and he closed his eyes.

10

"YOU DUMB UPFLUXER JETFART!" Hosch screamed in Farr's face. "When I want a whole damn tree trunk fed into this hopper I'll tell you about it!" Now the Harbor supervisor shoved his bony face forward and his tone descended into a barely audible, infinitely menacing hiss. "But until I do... and if it wouldn't trouble you too much... maybe you could split the wood just a little more finely. Or..." — foul-smelling photons seeping from his mouth — "maybe you'd like to follow your handiwork into the hopper and finish your work in there? Eh?"

Farr waited until Hosch was through. Trying to defend himself, he knew from bitter experience, would only make things worse.

Hosch was a small, wiry man with a pinched mouth and eyecups which looked as if they had been drilled into his face. His clothes were filthy and he always smelled to Farr like days-old food. His limbs were so thin that Farr was confident that, with his remarkable upfluxer strength here at the Pole, he — or Dura — could snap the supervisor in two, in a fair fight...

At last Hosch seemed to exhaust his anger, and he Waved away to some other part of the hopper line. The laborers who had gathered to relish Farr's humiliation — men and women alike — gave up their surreptitious surveillance and, with the smugness of spared victims, fixed their attention back on their work.

Air seethed in Farr's capillaries and muscles. Upfluxer. He called me upfluxer, again. He watched his fists bunch...

Bzya's huge hand enclosed both Farr's own, and, with an irresistible, gentle force, pulled Farr's arms down. "Don't," Bzya said, his voice a cool rumble from the depths of an immense chest. "He's not worth it."

Farr's rage seemed to veer between the supervisor and this huge Fisherman who was getting in the way. "He called me..."