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sounded almost too earnest.
    “They don’t want any of us there in the first place, and it would be dangerous. You’ve viewed what Homesmind knows about Earth, haven’t you?”
    “No, I haven’t viewed it.” She turned toward him, surprised. He smiled. He smiled whenever she looked at him, as Jerod and Nara and Tila smiled. She was beginning to dislike their solicitude. They smiled so often and spoke so gently in their efforts to show her that they still cared for her that she was starting to think she was being patronized. Perhaps they feared her, deep down. “I doubt I’ll ever look at those records of Earth,” Pilo finished.
    “Why not?”
    “They really don’t interest me.” His smile widened.
    She turned away. He did not have to explain it; she could guess why he hadn’t looked. He could accept her story of her origins and dismiss it, at least consciously; it had been only words. But if he viewed Earth through Daiya’s eyes, he would see Lydee only as another savage and would never be at ease with her again. He had already seen how easily she could fall into a primitive state during her time by the lake.
    Another shuttle darted in front of them, then fell toward the trees. Jerod was piloting that ship; he often overrode the shuttle’s piloting system to take control himself. The small, domed vehicle dipped toward a leaf, becoming a speck against the green; one of its long runners brushed against the leaf. Lydee watched calmly. Jerod was in no real danger; the shuttle’s pilot would take over if he grew too reckless.
    Her link hummed softly as her own ship passed through an opening in the energy field surrounding the comet; the field closed behind her. Only light could penetrate the field that protected the Wanderer. Her shuttle fell past leaves and stems; mirrored surfaces gleamed among the green. Through the tree limbs, oxygen was channeled into the trunks and then down to the roots in which the people of Home lived. The broad leaves captured sunlight; the roots drew moisture from the comet they entwined. Long ago, the cometdwellers had kept within the solar system, dependent on the sun’s light, but in time innovations had made it possible for the trees to store their energy and for people to control a comet’s path. They had been able to travel at speeds faster than light throughout this part of the galaxy for hundreds of years, replenishing their energy as they orbited other stars. Space was their ocean, the stars their ports.
    The leaves had vanished; they were now among tree trunks. Through her link, Lydee felt as though the shuttle was part of her, an extension of her body. She took control for a moment, circling a trunk before continuing to fall. The shuttle swooped toward a root, approaching a tiny, lighted space which grew into a lighted cave and then a large, bright room. They flew on, soaring through a wide passageway until they came to a plain of grass, where they landed next to a field of shuttlecraft.
    The doors of the shuttle slid open; Lydee and Pilo jumped out. Jerod had already landed; he hurried toward them, taking Lydee’s arm. She offered her other arm to Pilo. A dark-haired woman was climbing into one shuttle; she stared at Lydee, who tensed. Those living in the caves near hers had stared at her in the same way, as if they had never seen her before, when she had returned from the lake.
    They crossed the shuttle field, moving toward the garden that bordered it. The flowers nodded at them as they drew near; one red blossom detached itself from its stem and floated toward them. Jerod released her, caught the rose, bowed, and presented it; Lydee tucked it behind her ear.
    She sat in the grass near one flower bed; Pilo and Jerod sat near her. The two boys were smiling again, showing their teeth. Jerod touched her hand, then glanced at Pilo; the dark-haired boy got up and wandered away.
    “I’m better at piloting,” Jerod said. “The shuttle rarely overrides me now.”
    “Good