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their bodies, in the top, out the bottom, filtering out and living upon whatever tiny creatures were washed
down out of the trees and macromycetes by the rain. A boring life, that of a jilp. But it seemed to suit
them.
Pondering the static jilp, Matthias did not notice the heated shouts of recognition and resentment that had
begun to rise above the general din. It was impressed upon her that something out of the ordinary was
happening only when they suddenly found their way blocked, not by knots of imploring refugees but by
Deyzara faces distinguished by red-rimmed bulbous eyes and angrily darting trunks.
Look, brethren a high Sakuntala walks alone among us!
The She-Hata shows nothing but contempt, I have to say.
She thinks that because she can see easily over us, we do not exist in her eyes.
Bring those eyes down to ours, so that she may see the pain in them that her people have caused.
Bring her down; bring her down; bring her down!
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Initiated by the most militant among the crowd, the cry was taken up with an enthusiasm and a speed
that startled Matthias. Confronted by a single Sakuntala Hata, those who had been forced out of their
homes, had their livelihoods destroyed, or seen friends and relatives ill-treated found in the isolated
Naneci-tok a target for their accumulated hatred. No rocks were thrown (there were no rocks in the
Viisiiviisii), but someone found a branch and hurled it. It struck the now wary Naneci-tok on one
shoulder and bounced off. Other objects started to come flying through the air: pieces of wood, empty
containers, battered sandals. There wasn t a lot the irate Deyzara could throw. Every emergency food
container was soft and either edible or biodegradable. Only the satiated would hurl uneaten food, and
there were not many of those in the crowd.
Feeling something hard strike at the back of her knees, where she was most vulnerable to being brought
down, Naneci-tok started to reach for her side arm. Matthias was quick to restrain her.
No shooting! We ll get out of this. She nodded forward. They were almost to the walkway. Once on
the strilk-suspended accessway, the crowd would be able to follow only two abreast and would find
itself slowed accordingly.
That was all she needed now, she reflected worriedly: a shooting incident. Self-defense or not, if the
Hata accompanying her shot down one or two Deyzara, the huge mob might well get completely out of
control.
Then something struck her in the face, and she was forced to place survival above procedure.
Staggered by the blow, she reached up. Several fingers came down covered in blood that the rain of
Fluva rapidly washed away. Something opaque and sticky had begun to obscure the vision in her left eye.
The Deyzara were all around them now, pressing close, hooting and chanting wrathfully. For the first
time, she felt the weight and presence of the mob, and was frightened. Would Harriman or anyone else
step out of their dry, comfortable dens long enough to see what was happening? And even if they did,
could they arrive in time to do anything about it? She and Naneci-tok were trapped. Because of the
press of bodies, they couldn t move forward, back, or to the side.
There was, however, still one avenue of escape open to them. Being Sakuntala, Naneci-tok didn t
hesitate. It took all her strength to take the stocky human with her, but she was not about to leave her
friend the administrator to the mercy of a mob that was rapidly spinning out of control.
Followed by a flurry of thrown objects, the two females went up into the trees. Matthias felt the Hata s
lean but powerful arm around her waist as the cries of the infuriated Deyzara receded beneath them.
You must to help self now, Naneci-tok told her as they settled on a branch that was much too thin. I
can t carry you anymore.
Are you implying that I m overweight? Matthias found herself thinking reflexively. But of course she was.
Practically any human would be. Grown Sakuntala could fling themselves through the trees with apparent
ease, but they could not carry much of a load while doing so. To them, humans and Deyzara were solid
as well as short. Naneci-tok might be nearly two meters tall, but Matthias doubted the Hata who had
saved them both from the mob weighed more than fifty or sixty kilos.
Looking down through the rain, Matthias saw the frustrated Deyzara still gesticulating furiously below.
She and Naneci-tok couldn t go back the way they had come. Nor could they make use of the walkway.
It had been taken over by other Deyzara who expected the human, at least, to descend and try to cross
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on it. For the moment, their rage and resentment had overcome the fact that she was not their traditional
enemy. It was enough to make her a target of their ire that she was accompanying one of the hated
Sakuntala.
This way. Naneci-tok gestured encouragingly. We go around.
Around? Wiping blood from her face, an uncertain Matthias eyed the route the Hata was proposing. It
consisted of a winding path through vines and loopers, utilizing branches and broad-shouldered shelf fungi
made slippery with rain. The other alternative was to sit and wait, hoping the mob would grow bored and
trickle back to their shelters and emergency rations before she stumbled and fell.
If I m going to slip and fall, she told herself firmly, I might as well do it while trying to get out of here.
Okay, she muttered uneasily, clinging tightly to a chartreuse looper with one hand, but take it slow.
I ve never done anything like this before.
As at home in the trees as on a solid surface, Naneci-tok eyed the administrator in surprise. You on
Fluva for years and never make road through the forest?
Matthias offered up a wan smile. Canopied skimmers are more my speed.
Naneci-tok grinned. You smart incubator. I bet you learn quick.
I will damn well have to, Matthias told herself as she eyed the water some thirty meters below. If she fell
and survived the splashdown, there was no one around to fish her out before several of the Viisiiviisii s
water-loving predators found her first.
There is one other thing, she told her long-limbed companion. I m in pretty good shape, but . . . I m
afraid of heights.
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