She started laughing. She said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," and hugged him hard, still laughing. There were tears in her eyes. She put him down and saw him smiling slyly. She said, "It'll never happen again. We'll keep the tree where the air's thick. You'd better go talk to Jill."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Talk to her first. Then I think-"

Jeffer shouted for attention. "I here present Raff Belmy. Raff and Carlot are married by Admiralty law. The record is in the cassettes."

Over the heads of his brothers and sisters, Rather saw thejudging-look fade from Jill's face. She moved forward at last. Rather said, "Harry, can you give me some privacy? Take them along?"

Harry said, "Oh. Sure." Somehow he got his siblings moving away before Jill reached him.

Thejudging-look was back. She said, "Rather. How are you?"

"Fine. Nobody made me a copsik. I didn't get killed. Jill, I wanted to tell you."

"Were you afraid I'd run tell my father?"

"If I wasn't, the rest of us would have been. I couldn't, Jill."

He saw her reject that. She asked, "What was it like?"

"I'll be a lot of days telling you that!" And suddenly it was a pain in him, that he couldn't tell her about the raid, ever.

"What's wrong now?"

"Nothing," he lied. "I was remembering how close I came to joining the Admiralty Navy. I got out of it though. Jill, dinner has to be something special. Is there time to cook some of this earthlife?"

"Couple of days yet."

"I'll show you what to do." Take the kids too? He'd thought he wanted to be alone with Jill, but now he knew he didn't. "Harry! Gorey! Bring those bags to the cookpot."

The Admiralty slid west below him. Kendy began his bum, then turned to his instruments.

Neudar and the telescope array caught Admiralty Headquarters as it emerged from behind the Dark. The Library didn't respond. It must be turned off. CARM #6 was nowhere in evidence. No pressure suit responded to his query.

Sharls Davis Kendy had made more than one mistake. For half a thousand years he had been frantic to begin guiding his citizens in the Smoke Ring. Now he could begin, and now he almost knew how. Opportunities would come.

A part of his attention scanned his growing file on RESOURCES, LOCAL USAGE:

Debby described Half Hand's kitchen for Jeffer's benefit.

Clave carried the helmet on a slow trip through Serjent House.

The camera viewpoint spun erratically through a cloud of children. Children had knocked the helmet off its usual perch at the lift, then played with it like a basketball. Kendy viewed the commons as a series of stills. Corridor openings, the water trap, the communal cooking area, children laughing as they bounded in slow arcs.

A series of angular Clump houses, wildly various.

Mark's hut in various stages of construction. The silver suit had been housed there for a time.