"That's not my fault, Jeffer. Every time our orbits have matched, there has been someone else in the CARM. Where are they now? I don't find them outside either."

"They're asleep. I was too. Everyone but me sleeps on the bark. Kendy, how do I refuel the silver suit?"

Diagrams appeared: CARM and silver suit, side by side. Parts of the schematics blinked blue as Kendy talked. Jeffer saw that tanks along the calves of the silver suit were what made the legs so bulky. "Hydrogen here, oxygen here. There's hose under these little panels. The spigots are recessed, here and here, under these covers on the hull. You open them from the control panel. Bring up the schematic, then twist above these dots, this way." An arrowhead circled.

"Good."

"Remember. Oxygen line from here to here. Hydrogen from here to here. Getting it wrong may cause an explosion."

"What keeps the gases cold?"

"In a pressure suit? No, the gases are just under pressure. That's why the tanks go dry so fast." Kendy's face was back in the bow window. "Did you find six metric tons of metal ore?"

"Yes. Thanks. Booce says it makes us rich."

"Good. I see you've been building a steam rocket. Is it finished?"

"Booce still has to build cabins. We'll go to the out branch for the wood. He still doesn't know how to hold the pipefire-"

"Here's the CARM," a voice said. "Feel the airiock walls? TreefodderF

Clave was in the airiock with Rather behind him. The display went blank, a breath too late.

Clave got his mouth closed. "First things first. Scientist, Rather's having an allergy attack. You remember how Gavving was during the drought? Rather, you need thick wet air. So, we'll close the airiock and turn up the pressure and humi . . . um, wetness. Do it, Jeffer."

Jeffer let his fingers dance. Close both doors, humidity up, pressure up. Pressure in his ears. He worked his jaw. He untethered himself and moved aft.

Rather's eyelids were puffy; the eyes were scarlet. Jeffer said, "It goes away after a while no matter what you do. This might help. Or not. Work your jaw to pop your ears." He turned to Clave. "Well?"

"How long has the Checker been back?"

"Since the Serjents reached the trunk."

"Why didn't you tell someone? Me!"

"Let's go outside."

He opened the inner airiock door and gestured Clave in. From the look of him Clave might explode any minute;

but he came. They were nose to nose while the inner door closed and the outer opened.

"Keeps the pressure in," Jeffer said. "That's why it's called airiock." He kicked out into the sky.

Clave followed on mismatched wings. "You're stalling."

"No. Kendy can't reach us except when the sun is dead east, but anything that goes on in the CARM, Kendy hears it later. He can't hear us now."

"He wouldn't have heard us in the Citizens Tree commons!"