Carlot made her burn with the bow pointed straight into the Dark. East takes you out, out takes you west. That a rocket might go where it was pointed was contrary to Rather's experience; but he didn't want to argue with Carlot.

The Market passed them at impressive speed. A few citizens turned to watch, and were gone.

Raym Wilby had never kept silence in his life. "This first part of a trip is fun, but you can still get hurt. Carlot, the tank's near dry, stet? Turn us. Cut the water flow. Go in facing sideways."

Carlot looked at him.

"See, if something comes at us, you run the last of the water in. Doesn't matter what way you're facing, long as it isn't forward. Something's ready to hit us, you change course. If it's gonna miss, you don't."

"Oh." She and Clave tilted the nozzle. Log bearer started its turn as she cut off the water flow. The slow turn continued as the sky began to darken.

"Birds are the worst. A pond, a glob of mud, a jungle, they don't follow you if you dodge. Everybody got harpoons? Stet. Hey, smell that. First whiff of the Dark. State, it's good to be back!"

Logbearer fell straight in. It was like entering a huge storm cloud ... a granular-looking storm cloud. The air smelled of wet and rot and mustiness.

They strung'line, using beams on the nose as mooring points. Raym watched and frowned and told them to put the lines closer together. "It's got to hold the mud while you make the burn." When they finished, Logbearer's nose was the center of a great web. "I always string my extra clothes across the middle of the web. That way you know the mud won't go through and all over the cabin. You bring any extra clothes, Carlot?"

She spoke through gritted teeth. "You didn't tell me to. But yes, I brought extra clothes, and I don't much like getting them covered with mud."

"So wash them after. You do it when you're ready to leave. Then you use what's dirty. Look there, aft of center. Kerchiefs!"

Kerchiefs looked like a score of scraps of pink and green cloth afloat on the wind. "Those're flowers," Raym said. "Not fungus. They'll-"

"Could you spread those to hold the mud?"

"Carlot, they're not strong enough. Touch them and they shred. Hey, you don't mind dirty clothes when you're Dark diving!"

They took turns sleeping. The sky thickened and darkened over five or six days. Then Voy and the sun were hidden and it was impossible to know day. Rather's eyes adjusted. He saw colors emerging from the dark: blue tinges, green, orange. Behind them the murky sky was a blaze of light, suddenly bluer as Voy passed, too bright to look at.

Raym was forward, inspecting the web again. Or maybe he only liked the view.