"What's that mean?"

"Depends. She might he there temporarily. A lot of the cute ones go from the Peak to Heaven. A lot of the smart ones stay to help manage. A few of the older kids are trustees- they have the guns, and they watch what goes on below.

Avidore picks some to be recruiters. My guess is that your Fenelia is on her way to Heaven '

"What's going to happen to her there?"

Lusela shakes her head. "You don't want to know." She consults the computer again. "I can get you into the Upper City; a friend of mine there will help you reach the Peak. From there you're on your own."

Doku nods. "Thank you."

"It's late, and we'll have to get you into the Upper City before morning. Robbie, take your friends to the kitchen and tell Ca.s.sie to find you something to eat. I have a few contacts to make, then you're on your way."

I touch Lusela, softly, with Shalit's right hand. "Do not fear. Little One. The Hlutr will set things right."

"I-I thank you."

The Upper City is haphazard, its dwellings nothing more than prefabricated shelters and hastily-erected wooden huts. Robbie, who has insisted on coming with us, trembles as we drop from the top of the wall; his mind seethes with anxiety. I do what I can to quiet him.

It is somewhat easier than before. More of my brethren pay attention to events here upon Karphos; the planet is surrounded by tenuous eddies of Hlut-song, and I draw power from the concentration of my folk. As yet the Hlutr are only mildly interested...yet there is a hint of a stronger fascination to come.

Why? What is one world to the Hlutr Elders, one world dead so long it is but a legend, one world populated only by seventy seventies of Human children?

The Elders are concerned to know everything about Humans. And when the matter concerns Human children, it is that much more vital. Two hundred Human generations ago the Elders recognized Human youngsters as the hope of this strange race; for five millennia only the children have consistently spoken in the voice which needs no sound, the true voice of the soul. If that voice is encouraged, nurtured and cherished, then the child grows into a truly mature adult.

As child is the key to the development of adult, perhaps Karphos is a key to the development of the race. Of course the Elders listen and watch. Learning of Karphos, they could do no less.

But will they do more?

And although I quiet Robbie's apprehension, I can do nothing to ease Doku's mounting distress. Her mind, far more developed than Robbie's and yet far less sensitive to the Inner Voice, is all but closed to me. Doku is disturbed by Karphos, and she broods as we walk.

Soon enough, following Lusela Holic's precise instructions, we have made our way to a certain building which perches on an outcropping and overlooks the grid of the Middle City as well as the slaughterhouses of the Lower. Before Doku can knock upon the door, it opens to reveal a tall, dark Human male whose face I know well: Nen Basilus.

His eyes widen and he shakes his head. "Get inside," he hisses, and we obey.

Inside, a large darkened room is crowded with sleeping children. Nen closes the door, then solemnly puts a finger to his lips. He beckons, and we silently follow him past slumbering bodies.

It is dark, but not too dark for Shalit's gifted eyes. Not a few of the sleeping children clutch dolls, most just stuffed rags sewn together...but all the dolls, disturbingly, have the same painted face. And some of those blank faces turn to follow us as we pa.s.s, almost as if the dolls are awake while their owners rest.

Nen lets us into a small office where a half dozen terminals supply a pale, eerie light. With the office door shut behind us, Nen sighs heavily.

"I didn't expect you," he says to Doku. "You must be in some trouble, to need help from Lusela this soon."

Doku straightens and looks him in the eye. "You might as well know the truth- "

"Keep your voice down." He looks toward the door. "Don't you know anything?"

Before she can reply, I touch her on the shoulder. "The dolls, Doku."

"You talk!" Nen draws back.

I face him. "Are you surprised to hear an unfamiliar organism speak, in a world where dolls watch and listen? They do, don't they?"

"You're right. Everything they monitor winds up in Avidore's files. So watch out." He nods at Doku. "Finish what you were saying. Tell me what's going on."

Quietly,m Doku explains: her ident.i.ty, our homes, our mission to find Fenelia. All through her story, Robbie keeps his eyes on her, even though I know he does not comprehend what she says. "So Lusela sent us to see you," she finishes. "She seemed to think that you could help us."

"Oh, she did, did she? We'll see about that." He reaches to a terminal, taps on the keyboard, and in a second Lusela Holic's image appears on the screen.

"Are you scrambled?" she hisses.

"Of course. I've got some kids here who say that I'm going to help them find some other brat. What do you know about it?"

"I sent them," Lusela answers.

"Are you insane? I told you, I've had it with this. Last time Avidore almost caught me. I'm not going to take a chance like that again."

"Trust me, Nen. Please. This one is important."

"No." His Inner Voice sings with an awful dread...Avidore will find out what he's doing, and Avidore will punish him. "I mean it, Lusey. I can't do this, not even for you."

She sighs." All right. Send them back to me."

"What are you going to do?"

"You haven't left me with many choices, have you? I'll take them to the Peak myself."

Now a new fear strikes Nen. "You can't. You're safe in the city, but if Avidore get ahold of you on the Peak, it'll be the hunt for sure."

"That's a chance I'll have to take, won't I?"

"Don't do this to me!" Fear battles fear within Nen Basilus. "d.a.m.n it, Lusey, I can't let you walk up there to get killed. What would I do without you? Don't force me into this."

"I'm not forcing you. I believe that these kids can really make a difference. I'm willing to take chances for that. If you're not, then it's my choice."

For long moments Nen sits paralyzed between dread and terror...then he pounds his fist on the desk. "All right, d.a.m.n it, I'll do what I can to help them. Better that than . . ."

Lusela Holic smiles. "Thank you, Nen. I didn't want to do it alone." She lowers her head. "Please be careful."

"Count on it."

"I love you."

"You too." He punches the terminal, and Lusela's image fades into darkness. Then Nen turns to us.

"You'd better sit down. This isn't going to be easy." With a deep breath, Nen begins. "I don't remember your friend- I bring in too many kids, and they all look the same in hibernation. If she's on the Peak this soon after arrival, chances are that she's waiting for transfer to Heaven."

"What does that mean?"

His skin, dark as night, flushes. "Avidore has a lot of customers. People pay him to take care of their kids- they don't know what goes on here, they think it's just a vacation for the children. People also pay him for...other things. Some folks come to the Peak, or here to the Upper City, and make selections among the kids. Those they pick get sent up to Heaven."

"And what happens to them then?" I can feel the stress in Doku's voice, the tension in her mind, as she asks this question. Whatever answer she expects, she does not want to hear it.

Nen shakes his head. "There are some sick people in this Galaxy. I've seen things that I still don't believe. Things that little kids shouldn't know about, much less- "

"I get the idea," Doku said. "So you think Fenelia has been picked to go to Heaven?"

"Most likely."

"What do we do about that?"

"What do you think? Give up. Leave. Summon whatever transportation you have, and get off this planet. When Avidore finds spies, he kills them. No trial, no appeal, just suddenly you're breathing vacuum."

"What's your part in this, Basilus? You bring him more kids? What else do you do for Avidore?"

Tight-lipped, Nen answers, "I fly a ship. That's all. He tells me to make a recruiting run, I do it. He tells me to fly shuttle between Heaven and the ground, I do. He tells to me bring hunters down, or bring kids to be inspected, I do it."

"Real heroic of you." She turns away.

Nen takes a deep breath and looks at one of his terminals. "Listen, little lady, I don't have to justify myself to you or anybody. I owe Lusela, so when she asks me to help I do it. But that doesn't give you the right to act superior to me. All I have to do is touch one key, and Avidore will know all about you- and then you can be sure that Fenelia will he killed along with you. I know how this place works, you don't...so why don't you listen to me when I tell you what to do?"

He is tense, she is angry-and Robbie, looking from one to the other, is frightened. Slowly, doing what little I can to ease the swirling emotions in this tiny room, I speak: "Nen, we cannot leave without making an attempt to save Fenelia. Believe me, Doku is prepared to die in this mission." And Shalit, who gave her body for Hlutr use- do I have the right to risk her life?

At least she is a volunteer. Fenelia, and the other children here, are not.

"What do you want from me?"

"Tell us how we can get to Heaven. Then we'll take over."

He sighs. "You can't take a shuttle unless you've been approved. Heaven is for Avidore and his friends, not for kids. "

"There must be a way."

"There is, but you're not going to like it."

Doku turns back, her anger ebbing. "Tell us."

"All right." He gestures at the rest of the building. "I've gathered some kids here for inspection."

"What does that mean, inspection?"

"Adults from Heaven are going to look the kids over and choose the ones they want. Then I send the rejects down the slide, pack the others into my ship, and fly up to Heaven." He spreads his hands. "I'll make sure you're picked- that'11 get you into Heaven. Fenelia will be on the same flight, I'm sure. From there it's up to you."

Doku shakes her head. "I need to know where Avidore is. Plans of Heaven. Schedules. What sort of ships are available."

He nods toward the terminal. "I can get you all that."

Doku looks in my direction. "Shalit? This seems our best chance."

"Then let us take it, Doku."

"I just wanted to make sure. Okay, Nen, let's see the plans...."

We never see the adults who inspect us through a holographic link with Heaven; nor do we read the comments that Nen punches into his terminal. Whatever he says about us, it works- Doku and I, as well as Robbie, are chosen with fourteen others to go to Heaven.

There has been much argument about Robbie. Nen and Doku were agreed on one point: they did not want to risk Robbie's life by taking him to Heaven. Robbie and I were equally firm...he will not leave Doku's side, and I will not allow someone so gifted with the Inner Voice to wither in the dead soil of Karphos. If the Hlutr cannot help him, perhaps the psychologists of the Daamin on Nephestal can bring him peace.

In the end, of course, we win.

Under the watchful eyes of the dolls, Nen cannot admit that he knows us- with the others we are taken to the Peak and herded into his ship without comment. Not long after, another group of children enters...and Fenelia is not among them.

In fact she does not board the ship until just a few moments before liftoff; she is accompanied by three older children, all in clean, well-cut clothing.

Robbie is afraid of s.p.a.ceflight; he holds Doku's hand tightly, and I sing with the Hlutr to calm his seething mind. The liftoff is so smooth that I do not feel the actual instant we leave the ground.

Our journey to Heaven is not long: less than a half-hour after launch we are approaching a great silver wheel, a wheel ablaze with the dazzling gleam of captured sunlight. With a dozen dolls watching us, Doku does not dare contact Fenelia; we make the trip in silence.

As for myself, I spend the time pondering the mysteries of Karphos. How do Humans allow such a place to exist? What causes Nen Basilus, free with a starship, to bring more children back here, knowing the life to which he carries them?

And what drives Avidore, the enigma at the center of all other mysteries of this world?

I have no answers when we approach Heaven: only the sure knowledge that in order to understand, I must meet Avidore.

Heaven. How do I describe a place that is so Human and yet so oddly familiar?

Like Calmathis and other Human settlements in s.p.a.ce, Heaven is a self-contained ecological unit and does not depend on Karphos for nutrients, water or air. Even before we enter, I know that Heaven is a complete world, though a very small one: the song of that many living beings, perched on the edge of s.p.a.ce twenty thousand kilometers from the ground, cannot be ignored.

As soon as Nen opens the hatch and I smell the air of Heaven, I am aware of its life: invisible micro-organisms happily floating in the air, hibernating fungus and plant spores moving instinctively toward warmth and water, tiny mites to whom dust grains are worlds, even a few visible insects that escape the notice of Nen and the children. Ship's atmosphere mixes with Heaven's- and before any of us reach the hatch, seventy thousand new organisms are born in the roiling interface of air. This is the way of life, in Heaven as much as on the planet below.

To a greater or lesser degree, all of the children are aware of the lifeforms of Heaven- and none more aware than Robbie, whose mind hums in tune with the ineffable melody surrounding him. I feel, reflected in his thoughts and emotions, the touch of distinct, nearby awareness: hectares of quiet green plants lazily following the slow-spinning sun, insects and worms burrowing in cool tasty soil, domestic animals in seventies of varieties...and Human minds, not only the wondering consciousness of children but the cold, closed minds of adults.

And somewhere- Avidore.

I know that Doku wants to follow Fenelia, but almost as soon as the door is open Fenelia and her three comrades depart, moving quickly. We must follow our plan. Nen will meet us at the designated spot, and then together we will determine Fenelia's whereabouts.

It is not difficult for us to slip away; the main docking bay is honeycombed with pa.s.sages and Doku simply gestures for us to stray behind the main group until we can slip down an alternate path. Nen gives no sign of noticing when we leave, and none of the other children are watching.

"Wh-wh-wh-what if one of the d-d-d-dolls saw us go?"

Doku hardly pauses, simply muttering, "We'll just have to hope they didn't. And if they did-I guess we'll see Avidore sooner than we expect."

Silently, Robbie and I follow Doku, and artificial gravity slowly gives way to centrifugal force as we approach the rim of the station. Ramps, stairs and ladders take us downward, and at each bend in the pa.s.sage Doku stops, listening for any sign that we have been detected. Every now and again she glances at her portable computer, where she has stored maps of the station.

At last Doku stops before a pressure door and points to the words on its surface. "Agricultural section ten," she reads- for neither Shalit's eves nor my mind are trained to comprehend Human writing, and Robbie has never been taught how to read. "This is the place." Gently, Doku touches the door in a careful sequence, and it opens to reveal a wonderful land, a forest in the sky.

I cannot stop myself. Enchanted, I step forward, gladly greeting the happy plants and animals that grow under the eternal sunlight that shines through broad windows high above.

There are of course no Hlutr in this forest, but the mixture of lifeforms is delightful and amazing: Terran-life oaks alongside the soaring fronds of Dorascan star-trees, rabbits and squirrels living in harmony with their smaller cousins from across the stars, the whispering mosses of Bendaplida and the tiny, peaceful crawlers and grubs of Marpethtal. And all these lifeforms live in harmony, existing in a complex ever-changing ecology that comes as a complete surprise to me.