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. Ah! She jumped up. I ve got to get back to the council.Coming? He fingered the flute, then shook his head. No.I ll stay here a while. Chapter XIAleytys tugged at a lock of hair hanging forward over her shoulder. Tipylexne.Gwynnor.Ghastay.Damn.There are too many variables. Tipylexne touched her shoulder. The council decided, fire sister.We re ready for whatever s goingto happen. You hope so. She sighed. I wish you all would go back to the village. Tipylexne shook his head.The others echoed his silent refusal. All right It s your life.Gwynnor! She sprang from him and caught hold of the branch.Grunting witheffort, she pulled herself up to the broad limb, tongue caught between teeth, then ran out along the limband settled carefully behind a forking secondary branch.Her weight pulled the limb down slightly,opening a hole in the foliage she could see through.Beside the harvester a man straightened, wiping his hands on a soft red cloth while he pursed hismouth at the complex array of components.Stuffing the rag in a back pocket, he snapped the cover intoplace.Stepping back once more he glared at the forest then vanished inside the machine.The harvester sputtered briefly, then began a whining roar.Aleytys frowned.There was a peculiar uncertain flutter that rippled up her spine and flashed acrossher breast.Then she shrugged and whistled.As the first notes of the flute sounded below her, she reached out to touch the power lines within themachine.This time, the shielding was fierce.It took her several minutes to wriggle a probe past the forcescreen, but once her fingers reached inside, opening the short was a second s work.She grinned andbegan drilling a second hole in the shielding.There was a loud whumpf and several spurts of blue smoke blew from one side of the machine.Theharvester sprayed out fragments of metal.Aleytys smiled and began poking at the screen for a third hit.The last thing she heard was a loud explosion from the cutting arms of the machine. Chapter XII Aleytys! The amber eyes shone furiously. Wake up! The contralto voice nudged at her, brokethrough the daze blocking coherent thought. You were stunned, Harskari went on more calmly. Theydidn t bother trying to locate you, just swung a heavy-duty stunner over the face of the cut.Like squirtingwater from a hose. She closed her eyes and firmed her mouth into a thin line, disciplining herself backinto her usual calm.More quietly, she said, Then they carried you and the others here. The others. The thought drifted in her mind but her mouth made no sound.She could feel nothing,see nothing but Harskari s tiger eyes.After a moment s slow reflection she began to panic. Quiet, Aleytys.Don t be stupid.Your body is still stunned.You have another several minutes beforethe effect begins to wear off. She was silent for a moment. Look along yourself, Aleytys, she said afterher first words had had time to sink in. Your body was damaged when you fell. Fell.I fell? You were in a tree, remember? When the stunner hit, you fell.You bit the ground hard, Aleytys. Aleytys groped for memory but dropped the search when she found nothing but fog.She scannedalong her body.Damaged.My insides are a mess.Lung punctured.Broken arm.Broken shoulder.Cracked pelvis.Right leg fractured in two spots.I wonder they thought it worthwhile moving me.Realitybloomed slowly in her. Moving me? Where am I? Inside the machine.Although the stunner shocked you into overload so that you can t feel pain,Aleytys, your life force is draining away.Unless you want to join us prematurely you d better get busyhealing yourself. Hmmm. Aleytys drowsed through the evaluation of her injuries. My leg and arm, I can t doanything about those until they re set. Yes, Aleytys. I can stop the bleeding. She reached lazily for the black water and let it play over her rupturedorgans, over cracked ribs, over the cracked pelvis.Arm and leg.sealed the cuts but not the breaks.She let the roar diminish to a trickle and drifted sluggishly on the shrinking film. Aleytys! She sighed mentally and let the comforting water sublimate. What is it? I think you d be interested in the engineer s conversation. Engineer. She turned her other sight on the life source at the other end of the room.The man was long and narrow, dressed with a mannered elegance that emphasized his really beautifulhands and his hollow-cheeked scholar s face.His eyes were very dark, slanting upward over highcheekbones
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