"Then he's dead," Lisa concluded, "and all the Carther States warriors are going to die, and we'll never get loose at all. So he's got to have the carm. He's got the carm and as many Carther States warriors as he can get aboard, and he's trying to reach us. Who goes with us?"

Nobody suggested a name. Jayan said, "We're the only new copsiks. Let the rest run their own revolt."

"You can't go up."

They turned, surprised. Dloris's eyes shied from their potentially lethal attention. She repeated doggedly, "You can't go up. The tunnels lead to the fin and the treemouth. There isn't any connecting tunnel to the top of the tuft; that's where the men live. None of you are in shape to tunnel through foliage, and if you got to the top you'd stand out like so many mobies in a stewpot."

"Then what?"

"Stay here till your friends come for you."

lisa shook her head. "The children's complex? Karal must have the upper reaches evacuated by now."

"LIsa, it's big and complicated and it doesn't connect to the top. The most you'd do is get lost."

"What's your stake in this, Dloris?"

"Let me live. Don't tell anyone I helped."

"Why?"

"I wanted to escape once myself. Now I've been a supervisor too long. Somebody would be sure to want me dead. But you can't go up. Stay here and wait."

They looked at each other. Minya said, "You did that. For thirty years? No. I think I know what we have to do."

The Grad tapped at the motor controls . . . tricky. They had to be used in pairs and clusters or they'd spin the carm. He dropped into the foliage several meters from the platform, with a horrendous crashing, and opened the doors at once.

Three men jumped toward the door. Gavving gripped an older man's

arm. The third man wore blue, and he was swinging a sword. Debby took careful aim and put a crossbow bolt through him.

Gavving and the stranger pulled themselves inside. The older man was gasping. "Get us moving," Gavving said. "This is Horse. He wants to join Quinn Tribe. Alfin isn't coming. He likes it here."

A feathered harpoon ricocheted through the doors. The Grad closed them. He said, "I left Minya and Jayan in the pregnant women's compound-"

"What? Minya?"

"She's carrying a guest, Gavving. Your child. And men aren't permitted there." Later the Grad would tell bim the truth . . . part of it. For now, for witnesses and the record, Minya is carrying her husband's chikL "Lisa's there too, Anthon. I told Minya to gather them all and go up. We'll have to wait for them."

Clave nodded. Gavving stared with open mouth. He said, "Grad, don't you know the men's tunnels don't connect to the women's?"

"What?"

"They'd have to go all the way to the fin or the treemouth, and back!

Or break trail-Grad, they're sure to be captured!"