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There was a murhtened when they caitation of the council made them appear smaller, as well

Twisp&039;s hand went up to still the chatter

"We have other fish in the pan Please bear withacross Dwarf MacIntosh&039;s console, and nodded at Snej to retrieve it He went on

"Flattery has doet hiue with getting rid of hiht?"

There were nods around the table, but Mona spoke up:

"He&039;s going to take three thousand of our best people with hio," Twisp emphasized "They should be free to settle the void, if that&039;s their passion We will be rid of him, that is our only concern But ill have to break down the ht down first, and we must be assured that he can&039;t possibly return Wecriminals ourselves If we do not, then we and our children are lost"

Snej read what MacIntosh had to say from the Orbiter

"Twisp, Project Goddess has bee intercepted"

"Intercepted? Well, now, that&039;s a step up from &039;lost,&039; at least Where are they? Who did it?"

"It&039;s the kelp," Snej said "Dr MacIntosh speculates that the kelp got a whiff of Crista Galli and decided to take her He&039;s being jammed on the burst systeh data to brief us?" Twisp asked Hein his forehead Today, ht of his second half-century Snej handed hier and he clipped it into his console

"The kelp in sector eight diverted their foil into its stand," Mack&039;s voice reported "It completely shifted several transport channels to do so and an unknown number of subs were disabled, possibly lost There have been casualties, number unknown Current Control attemptedorders No effec"

Murs rose around the table Twisp, too, was an we need

"Do we have anyone in that area?" Kaleb asked "Any Kelp Clan people who knohat they&039;re doing?"

Mona flurried her fingers across her console

"Yes," she said "We have an Oracle landside of their position, plenty of personnel"

"If shipping&039;s disrupted there, our people are probably in trouble, too," Venus said "I&039;ll try to raise a sub, but uess is that the whole area&039;s impassable -"

Twisp interrupted

"What we need now is total interference with anything Flattery does Wherever his o, whatever move he makes, we need people in the e need dead ends He must be frustrated at every turn Does his interference in Current Control indicate that he&039;s penetrated us?"

"It&039;s possible," Snej said, her rim line, "but I doubt it"

"Ask Dr MacIntosh to shut down Current Control," Twisp said "There will be reprisals there, as you know But we knowaround in the kelp than anyone, and most of it&039;s on our side As of now, traffic ill be at a standstill You all know the dangers, of course"

Twisp, who had fished the open seas for most of his life, knew better than any of them the fates they had just decreed for thousands on and under the ocean Countless innocent people were nowhostile kelp The die had been cast, and by Flattery himself

"Our success or failure depends completely on the cooperation of the people of Pandora," he said "We need to starve hier, fear with fea"

Kaleb stopped hiized with the acceptable nod

"We don&039;t fight hunger with hunger," Kaleb said His voice was soft, his tone as repri father&039;s

"We&039;re huer with food"

There was a deferential silence, then Mona&039;s witness said, "Aye Aye, we&039;re with you"

"Kaleb, you show ry and we&039;re in, too," Venus said

"It&039;s so si now appearing on your screens As you can see, we&039;ll need the cooperation that Tas talking about We have to get Ozette and Galli on the air iht," Mona agreed, tapping her screen "Ti is the key, here The people cannot help if they don&039;t kno They will believe Ben Ozette, they orship Crista Galli Theynow," Kaleb said His voice was calht ahead "They will be about five thousand, well- the poor"

"Anything else fro her lip "Yes," she said "He says Beatriz Tatoosh is aboard, and the drinking water has er, puzzle her brow

Twisp felt his heart double-time in his chest

"Well," he announced, "that&039;s our personal code for big trouble in orbit Flattery probably sent up a security force with Beatriz He &039;s up with Mack Damn!"

Twisp sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly

"Too bad she&039;s not with us," he said "I wish MacIntosh had soht now"

"Let&039;s see what kind of support we have down here right now," Kaleb said "Let&039;s mobilize our upcoast people and rescue that foil"

Kaleb rose, obviously ready to leave for Victoria immediately

We need him here

"Kaleb," he said, "let&039;s take a walk You&039;re nearly three hours away Good people live upcoast, they&039;re already searching For old tio down to the Oracle Maybe someone should ask the kelp what the hell it&039;s up to"

Roots and wings But let the wings grow roots and the roots fly

- Juan Ramon Jimenez

Stella Bliss unpacked three crates ofthe short ay to the foyer of the Wittle ht before, and Stella&039;s moss orchids happened to be ready She was a sculptress of flowers, and appreciated an audience for her art

Stella wore her new lavender puff-sleeve blouse and a crisp pair ofwork pants The blouse favored her breasts, tender with her recent pregnancy, but she supposed this would be the last tiet into these pants for a while

Stella skirted the security guards and servants who found excuses to watch her The lih her stature had thrust her into the liht often since she was a child Twelve hands tall, Stella turned heads wherever she went, even when she went in overalls

Stella dressed like the flowers she raised Doob told his parents that, at ho Her shaggy dark hair frareen eyes Her lips were full, often pursed with concentration She s old tunes to the new hu them for food had been Stella&039;s faenerations Since the food shortages, production and research efforts went to food Stella had never given up on flowers or the bees that eneration within her, a child that she knew by her drearow to be a woman like herself She knew this as her mother had known it, as all theirtradition, difficult in these difficult tin and she was proud that today they would be seen by other artists, by entry

Stella had heard that His Honor Alek Dexter was colorblind, so she selected a blend that pleased herself Most of the blossoh she couldn&039;t resist showing off a half-dozen of her delicate pinks

A ser poked into each of her cartons with his lasgun and silently checked the moss beds with his knife Stella had been scanned twice and body-searched by a rounds This was not the first time, and she supposed it wouldn&039;t be the last Stella had so opinions, but preferred to concentrate on her flowers A cordon of security closed off the entire block, and another contingent guarded the building This was the home of the chief executive officer of Merman Mercantile, soet for the Shadows He was rumored to be one of three men in line for the Director&039;s position should an unforeseen unpleasantness occur

A sweeping structure of molded stone and plasteel, this home showed no effects from the recent series of quakes that had devastated h wall of rock topped with shards of sharp lass It was hard for her to believe that The Line for this sector passed only a block away No one as setting up this reception seemed at all concerned about the sounds of screams and heavy vehicles less than a stone&039;s throw behind therim-faced security sported a flesh flower behind his ear, one of the new sculpted skin designs that she found repulsive His underar y afternoon

"What would you find in that dirt," she asked hiuard scowled, his glance flicking nervously froray cap of afternoon nirowled "Don&039;t push it"

"Are you afraid that the mob will co," he blurted, puffing his boyish chest against baggy fatigues "My job is to protect Mr Dexter, and that&039;s what I&039; the plants fro them in their beds beside the walk This was the part she liked - handling the silky vines and blind roots, s the loam as she broke it open At the end of the day, when she cleaned her short nails, she did it over one of her pots so that nothing was lost

"You h a lot of pain and trouble to get the one behind your ear"

"I was drunk," he said "If they could get theood, it wouldn&039;t be so bad"