Clave tossed his head to shake some of the sweat out of his hair.

"Come inside." Jeffer ushered them forward to the front row of seats. "Strap down."

He tapped, and vertical blue dashes appeared in the panel below the window. Four clusters of four each at the corners of a square, and a larger dash in the center. He tapped the central dash.

The sound within the cabin was like the roaring of wind at the treemouth. Clave felt a featherweight of tide and knew the tree was in motion.

Jeffer told them, "We're already placed right, with the motor aimed west. We thrust eastward. That puts Citizens Tree in a wider orbit, so we slow down and drift west, away from the Clump."

Clave wondered if he wanted to watch from outside. "Is it dangerous out there?"

"Could be. You don't want to fall into the flame. Anyway, the view's better in here." Jeffer's fingers danced, and the CARM window sprouted five smaller windows. "The ventral view got ruined when we fell back into the Smoke Ring-"

"Jeffer, you don't lecture this much unless you're nervous. What's wrong? We've moved the tree before."

Gavving laughed. It appeared that he had a touch of nerves too. "Remember how twitchy we were then? Merril was sure we'd break the tree apart and kill ourselves."

Clave shrugged. He went aft and braced himself in the airlock.

What remained of the pondlet stretched itself out from the trunk, then broke into one big drop and a line of little ones. The mother pond they'd robbed twenty-two sleeps ago drifted west. The sun passed Voy and began to climb. A fat triple-finned bird, dead west by a klomter or three, suddenly went into an epileptic seizure, split into three slender birds, and scattered. Clave was late in understanding what he'd seen: a triune family suddenly washed by the invisible heat of the CARM's exhaust.

Clave went in and strapped down again.

He had been anticipating Lawn's arrival for some time, but the CARM's roar covered her entry. He turned to see her halfway up the aisle ... and Debby behind her. And Ryllin. And Booce and Carlot. Clave fumbled to release the buckle that bound him to the chair.

It took too long. He was between Jeffer and Gavving, with Lawri behind him. He sighed. "What's it all about?"

Jeffer's fingers danced. The board went blank. He said, "We can fight or we can talk. Or we can talk and then fight, but there's only one"of you. Clave. Cripple me and Lawri flies the CARM."

Call for help? If he could get past Jeffer to use Voice, the elevator would still take a day to get up ... forget it. Voice connected to the silver suit, which Rather was now pulling headfirst through the airlock.

It would have felt good to hit somebody. Clave said, "I'll be good. Now what's it all about?"

"We're going to visit the Admiralty," Jeffer said.