"Yeah." Jeffer stretched unself-consciously. "That's good. We'll have to talk fast when we get back to Citizens Tree. The seeds'll help, and we'll carry fresh food too, something they can eat right then. Are you getting what you wanted?"

What Kendy wanted was still beyond his reach. He said, "I've learned some things."

"Tell me."

"The Admiralty is self-sufficient. They're a successful culture, but the crime rate must be high. Otherwise they would need fewer Navy ships, and the houses would have more openings." Kendy displayed the picture the pressure-suit camera was sending from the Clump. Small green outlines flickered as Kendy pointed out ships, then the few but massive doors on nearby houses. "They've settled the outer shell of the Clump, but they only venture gingerly into the dark center. Their infant mortality rate must be as bad as yours. When they add up their population they don't count children, any more than you do."

"I never noticed that. Hmm . . . London Tree didn't either. Is it because so many children die?"

"Yes. Wait a thousand years and the death rate will have diminished. There's nothing else to be done."

"I never thought there was. While I've got your attention, Kendy, I found a listing on the Clump. Lagrange points, it's called. What do these words mean? Equipotential, saprophyte- Something's happening."

A steam rocket emerged from the fog and rain. It came to a halt fifty meters from the helmet camera. "Navy," Jeffer said unnecessarily. "I wonder . . . that's Booce. And a silver suit!"

"I see them. An equipotential is the curve on which some force or energy level is everywhere equal. It might be gravity or tidal force or magnetic force. A -saprophyte is a family of plants that don't use light. We'll see some if Clave can take the helmet into the Dark."

Four men flew toward the camera: two in Navy armor, one standard-issue pressure suit, and Booce Serjent. The pressure suit was better kept, cleaner and shinier, than the Citizens Tree suit. There were big Navy-style fins at the ankles. The design painted on the back was repeated on one shoulder and on the fins: a broad green ring with a blue dot at the center.

Kendy tried to make contact with the suit radio. He found nothing. Either it wasn't on, or the frequency had wandered over the centuries.

The helmet was thrown back on its hinge despite the rain. The face inside was a rounded anglo face, without the soft elfin look of most Smoke Ring citizens: a "dwarf" face, shaved, sprouting an Earth day's worth of dark shadow.

The "dwarf" looked around him. '"This was clever, Booce. Do you have torches?"

"I'm sorry, Captain-Guardian. We can make some up."

"No need. How do I get through this muck?" The dwarf had no accent.

Kendy gloated. No accent! He spoke exactly as a State citizen would have. The officers must learn their speech from the Admiralty Library!