"You've got land, haven't you?" Hetch demanded. "Good fertile land and the climate to grow things."

"Come on, Manny, we can't export dirt."

Hetch grinned. "Nope. But you can export this." He reached into his belt pouch and removed a small box, which he handed to Jason. Jason glanced at him curiously, then opened the box while Mish leaned over his shoulder and stared down. Quilla opened her eyes and watched from across the room.

Jason reached into the box and removed a fine wire, almost white, which felt cool and metallic to his fingers. He handed it to Mish and picked up an amber-colored rectangle. It shimmered in the light of the fire as Jason held it up. Next was a gray lump, slightly resilient. Jason's fingers molded it and Mish put her fingertips in the indentations he had left. Four fuzzy brown seeds. Mish set them at the end of the row she had made on the small table beside Jason's chair, and together the Kennerins looked at Captain Hetch with silent curiosity. Quilla's eyes closed again and she stirred on the couch.

Hetch pulled his moustache and leaned forward to tap the wire. "Best and cheapest electrical conductor I've found. Won't rust, won't break, almost no resistance at all. Sells for maybe seven fremarks the kilo on Althing Green." He tapped the amber rectangle. "Comes from this. Second stage processing. Orbiting factories, needs the freefall to come out right.

Crystallize the things, I think. Looks like this" -- he tapped the gray lump -- "before processing starts. Raw material."

Mish folded her hands in her lap. Hetch lifted the seeds and spread them in the calloused palm of his hand. "'Zimania rubiflora'," he said.

"Native to Marquez's Landing. Grows about one hundred fifty centimeters tall, about one twenty round. Bright red flowers, inedible fruit. Yellow. Trunk's about forty centimeters around, scaly brown bark. You cut the trunk halfway up and collect the sap. Harden it to this." He tossed the gray lump into the air and caught it. "Send it to the orbiting factory and, hey presto, the best conductor in the Federation."

Jason frowned. "Electrical wire from sap? You're pulling me, Hetch."

"Truth and light," Hetch swore. "They crystallize it and polarize the crystals. Something like that. I've been using it for the past ten, eleven runs, and it works beautifully. Cheaper than metal, easier to store, won't freeze, won't rust, damn near won't melt, either. And you don't need a lot of equipment to produce the raw stuff, just good, arable land and a little work."

"But the factories -- " Mish said, and Hetch waved his hand.

"Albion-Drake, over by Shipwright, has a dozen factories begging for the stuff, they can't get it fast enough. All you have to do is grow the plants, collect the sap, harden it, and ship it off."

"Ship it off?" Jason said.

"You ship with me." Hetch reached for his wineglass, and Mish refilled it. "That's my end of the deal. You sell to me, I sell to Albion-Drake. We both make a good profit. And I'll advance you credit until the first load's ready."

"How long?" Mish said.

"About four years, I'd guess. The plants flower and fruit after two years, and you'll want to take seeds from the first batch to plant out the rest. By the fourth year, you would have enough mature plants to produce a good harvest, and we start shipping then. What do you think?"

Jason leaned back and crossed his arms. "Manny, did you steal these seeds?"

Hetch looked surprised. "Steal them? Of course not. What makes you think I stole them?"

"Anything this valuable isn't going to be floating around for anyone to pick up. And Marquez's Landing -- "

"Can't even keep up with the demand," Hetch said. "No, it's a question of where it'll grow. Aerie shows up on my scopes almost identical to Marquez -- the seasons are pretty much the same, climate's about equal, sunlight, trace minerals. Not a usual pattern, water-worlds with this sort of primary, this far from it. My bet's that Marquez and Aerie are the only places it'll grow. Seller's market. Well?"

"You didn't answer my question," Jason said. Hetch grinned and waved his arm. Mish took the seeds from Hetch and spread them over her palm. Jason recognized the look in her eyes. The back of his neck felt tight.

"When's your next trip through?" she said to Hetch, without looking up.

"Four, five swings. That's, what, five months Aerie? Next spring?"

Mish nodded. "If they germinate, if I have growing plants by that time.

Jason?"

She glanced at him, and Jason nodded slowly.

"Yes," he said. "You'll have your answer in the spring."

"Good enough." Hetch stood and stretched, his belly thrusting out before him. "I've got more seeds in the shuttle, and a manual for you. I'll bring them in the morning."

He waited until Mish awakened Quilla and sent her up to bed, then said his good nights and followed her upstairs. Mish stood by the fire, cradling the seeds. Jason cupped her extended hand in his own, his dark fingers curving over her amber palm. The four brown seeds seemed like the heads of nails, binding the hands together. Mish smiled, and Jason brushed her hair with his cheek as he turned to bank the fire.

"Jase? I smell something burning."

"The fireplace," he said without turning.

"No, different. Can you -- Sweet Mother!"

Jason turned. Mish had thrust the curtains aside. A sullen red glow pervaded the room. She opened the window and acrid smoke billowed past her head.

"The kitchen or Haven," she said. "Get the children!"

The door crashed open as she ran out of the house. Jason stood for a moment, staring at the seeds she had dropped on the floor, then turned and pounded up the stairs.

"GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!" JASON'S VOICE shouted. "Fire!"

Quilla leaped from the bed and grabbed at her clothes. Jason shouted at her brothers' doors, and she rushed from the room, still struggling with the fasteners on her shirt. Someone brushed by her in the dark, and she cried out before recognizing the musty, ship's air smell of Manny Hetch. She followed him down the stairs, grabbing at the banister to keep her balance, and ran out the front door. A red, smoky light filled the sky, reflected from the bellies of clouds. She stared at the house, trying to find the origin of the glow. Her eyes hurt. Then she turned in place and felt cold relief. The house was standing and untouched. Haven was burning.

"Quilla!' Mish grabbed her arm and shouted over the sounds of burning wood and yelling voices. "Find Hart and Jes and keep them here. Don't leave the hill."

Mish was gone before Quilla could speak. She fumbled with the last clasp on her shirt, then gave up and turned to find her brothers. Jes stumbled from the house and stood close to her, staring at the flames.

"Mish says to stay here," Quilla told him. "You're not supposed to go down to Haven. Jes! Listen to me!"

"All right," Jes said and shook her hand from his arm. "Look, Quil, the whole town's going up!"

Quilla stared down the hill. "No, it's just the doctor's house. Stay here. I've got to find Hart."

Jes' answer was lost as the roof of Hoku's house caught fire with a hollow roar. Quilla looked about in the sullen light but could not see Hart.

She ran toward the house.

Laur stood at the door, whimpering, wrapped in a blanket. A corner of the blanket slipped from her shoulder as she grabbed at Quilla.

"I can't find Hart!" the old woman cried.

"Did you look in his room?"

"I looked, he's not there!" Laur wailed. "I can't find him! He'll be hurt, he'll -- "

"Stay here," Quilla commanded. Laur stared at her, then nodded and clung to the doorframe, her face turned toward the burning. Quilla slid past her and ran up the stairs.

"Hart?"

The room was empty. She opened the closet door, but he was not hiding beneath the toys and clothes. Nor was he beneath the bed, and the small alcove by his window was empty. Quilla gnawed at her lip, then ran into Laur's room.

When frightened, Hart often crawled into the narrow bed and clung to Laur until she quieted his fears and sent him back to his own room. But this room, too, was empty. Quilla checked the entire top floor before running down the steps again. From the window at the landing, she saw forms passing buckets of water from the stream; they seemed barely human, outlined against the dancing light of the fire. At the far side of the stream, kasirene gathered to stare at the burning house.

Hart was nowhere on the main floor, either. She paused at the kitchen door, frowning, then grabbed a light and ran down the hillside toward the barn. People milled around the barn's wide doors. She stumbled over a small shape, which cried out in fear, and she stopped and lowered the light. A child crouched in the grass, staring at her with wide eyes. Quilla picked the child up, set it on her hip, and hurried toward the barn.

The holocube lady sat in hay, pinched with fear, surrounded by her lighted ghosts. Quilla thrust the child at her. "Here. Make sure the children stay in the barn."

"What's happening? Is it the Guardians? Are the Guardians coming? Are they killing -- "

"No, the doctor's house is burning. That's all. Stay here, and keep the children with you."

The woman nodded and turned off her holocubes, and the child huddled beside her. Quilla scrambled up the ropes, the lantern's grip clenched between her teeth, and sped through the lofts and balconies. Lamplight swung amid the crates and timbers. No Hart.

The sky flared and wavered through the smoke. Her eyes watered. She stared at the far outlines of the kaedo trees, then turned and ran toward Haven. Finding Hart was more important than staying away from town.

She circled the bucket brigade and ran toward the stream. The smoke hurt her throat. Hart maintained a secret place that she was not supposed to know about, and she splashed through the shallows and waterplants until she breached the cane cover of the hut and found Hart kneeling in the water. He backed away but she cried his name and clutched him to her, almost babbling with relief. His body loosened and he held to her, weeping.

"Why did you come here," she demanded. His body tightened in her arms.

"I've been looking everywhere for you. Why didn't you stay at home?"

"I heard a noise," he said. His voice strengthened away from tears. "I came down to see what it was, and I saw the fire and got scared. So I came here and I hid. I saw the whole thing."

Quilla glanced at him but could not make out his features in the dim light. "All of it?"

He pushed away from her. "I heard a noise and I came down to see what it was," he repeated.

Quilla took his hand and stood. He tried to tug away, but she held him tightly. "Come on. Laur's probably half crazy, wondering where you are." Hart staggered as he stood, and she stooped to lift him.

"I can walk by myself," he announced, and led the way across the stream. The sky paled toward dawn, and the light of the flames slackened. They stood for a moment halfway up the hill, watching the fire die under buckets of water. Burned planks and charred beams littered Haven's one intersection, and ashes floated in the air. The doctor's house was a total ruin.

"Quilla?" Hart slipped his hand into hers.

"It's all right now," she said. "The fire's almost out."

"Do you..." He paused, and she glanced at him. "Do you think they'll go home now?"

Quilla squeezed his hand, remembering his terror in the barn the night the refugees had arrived.

"No, Hart. This is their home now, baby. They'll build the house again."

Hart pulled his hand away and raced up the hill, and Quilla trudged after him. As the boy reached the house, Laur grabbed him, berating him and sobbing with relief. He stood quietly in her arms, his face turned from Haven.

Quilla sighed and sat with her back against the halaea. Smoke dissipated in the morning wind and Quilla saw the kasirene gathered around the ruins of the doctor's house, staring at the burned wood. The refugees avoided them as they splashed water over the house, and small clouds of white steam billowed into the pale blue sky. Quilla closed her eyes.

"Quilla, Jason says we're supposed to go to the barn, and Laur's supposed to get some breakfast down, and you're to bring the medkit. I think someone was hurt." Jes stood before her, almost dancing with impatience, and Quilla nodded and stood. Jes vanished down the hillside while Quilla told Laur what was needed.

"If those damned cooks are around," Laur muttered. "Undependable, lazy kassies -- they'll probably not appear all day." She walked through the hall, still grumbling. Hart followed, his hand holding a trailing edge of Laur's blanket. Quilla lugged the heavy medkit from its niche in the wall, shouldered it, and lugged it down the hill.

Dr. Hoku had set aside a corner of the barn as an infirmary. Quilla staggered through groups of talking people and dumped the medkit on a pile of hay beside the doctor. Two people lay gasping, their faces dark with smoke.

Manny Hetch wrestled open the clasp of the medkit and pulled out the air pumps and masks. He settled one over each of the smudged faces. The air pump hissed.

Hoku nodded before bending again over a third form. Quilla craned her neck and saw Tabor Grif, his face more pale than usual, and his lips pressed tight together. Hoku ripped his pants open, exposing a blistered, oozing area on his left thigh.

"Hurts, right?" the doctor demanded, and Tabor nodded.

"Good." Hoku turned her head and saw Quilla.

"Open my bag, girl." Hoku gestured, and Quilla touched the bag's hasp.

It opened into a surprising number of layers. "Top, to the left. I want the red ampule and the hypogun beside it."

Quilla lifted them out and handed them to the doctor, who fitted ampule into hypo with a practiced flick of her fingers and pressed the gun against Tabor's side. He grimaced and his face relaxed a little.

"That's better," he said. "Still hurts."

"Takes time. You," Hoku said to Hetch, "bring me that medkit. You ever worked with burns before?"

Hetch nodded. "On shipboard."

"Good enough. I need someone else. You, girl. No vomiting, understand?"

Quilla nodded, took a deep breath, and knelt in the straw beside Tabor.

He tried to smile at her, and she touched his neck before turning her attention to the doctor. Hetch handed instruments and drugs from the two kits, Hoku worked swiftly with them, and Quilla took the used instruments and dropped them into the holding sac. Hoku muttered as she probed and sliced and cleansed. Sometimes Tabor winced. Quilla rested her left hand on his shoulder and he covered it with his right, squeezing hard whenever the doctor probed deeply. Quilla tried not to look at the layers of flesh that Hoku manipulated, but she could not close out the smell of burned meat. Her stomach churned, and she pushed the sensation aside. Tabor fainted.

"He's unconscious," Quilla said.

Hoku put a hand on Tabor's wrist, then nodded. "He's all right," she said, and her fingers flew again.

Finally she poured healant over Tabor's thigh and layered dressings into place. She moistened electrodes and pasted them to his skin, checked the readings, sighed, and rocked back on her heels. Her wrinkled face was damp with sweat.

"Girl, you stay and watch him. If anything looks funny, any of these dials goes into red, you yell for me until I come. Understand?" Hoku glanced at Quilla, then gave her a brief, hard smile. "Good work, girl." She stood, ignoring Hetch's offered hand, and stretched.

"You ever want a place on shipboard..." Hetch began, and Hoku snorted.

"I've been on ship twice in my life," the doctor said. "Hated it. No, thanks. You retire here, I'll take you on as my nurse."

Hetch shrugged. "I've got three years of nursing. Hated it."

They packed the instruments into the sterilizer. Laur and the kasirene cooks brought tea and bread into the barn, and a quick silence descended while the refugees stared at the kassies with distrust.

"They started it," someone said. A murmur of assent moved through the barn.

"I saw them..."