There were people darting among the plants. They glanced incuriously at the intruders, then went back to what they were doing. Some sprayed water at the mud globules or the plants themselves. One was pushing a plant ahead of him; muddy pale appendages waved naked at one end. An older man floated slowly along an aisle, turning as he flew, to see in all directions.

Debby tried a slice of the orange sphere. The sweetness, the wonder of it almost paralyzed her. "Treefodder!"

"That's an orange. This-"

"I can see that." Debby reached at random. "What's this, a yellow?"

"Plum. Not quite ripe."

It was bitter, sour. Adjeness gave her a dark-red spheroid from another part of the plant cluster. "This should be better."

It was.

"You wouldn't want to spend all your funds on fruit," Adjeness said. "You'll want legumes too, but they have to be cooked. Let Carlot take you to Half Hand's Steak House before you make any final decisions. Unless you're really rich? Then you can buy everything."

Clave said, "I'm not sure what we can afford. I haven't heard any prices."

Adjeness nodded. "Here. Eat everything but the center, and you can eat that if you want to. Apple."

Rather asked, "Clave, did you eat like this in Quinn Tuft?"

"No. Hey, corn! We had corn before the drought. Here. Strip off the leaves. Now the silk too." He smiled, watching Rather bite into it. "Just the outside, and it's supposed to be cooked."

"It's okay this way. Leave the white stuff?"

"Stet."

Raym's hand sneaked into a bush as if without Raym's knowledge. Three red objects each the size of his thumb went into his mouth all at once. Debby was nearly sure Adjeness had caught it. She only smiled.

Cariot and the slant-eyed man emerged from a leafy wall. Carlot's voice was just slightly ragged. "Crew, Zakry Bowles is our host here. We'll go look at the prices after we know some of what we want. How are you doing?"

"Cariot, it's wonderful!" Rather burst out. "Oranges, plums, I think we want everything in sight. Zakry, can you eat everything here?"

"Almost. Every plant has something you can eat growing on it some of the time. These potatoes, you can't eat what you see. The root's down there in the mud. You don't eat the inside of an ear of corn-"

"Clave told me."

"Or the pit of a plum."

"Oop."

"What did you do, swallow it? It'll come out all right in the end. Let me show you what else we've got-"

Bean vines grew mixed with the corn. They seemed to want to take over everything. "We stopped growing tobacco long ago," Adjeness said. "Only the officers had fire handy, and <hey weren't buying enough. This is lettuce." Lettuce was leaves. It wasn't as sweet as foliage.

Strawberries were as startlingly good as oranges. Squash looked like jet pods. Zakry was enjoying himself.