Observers had come from many distinguished starfaring clans-Synthians, Kanten, Mrgh'4luargi-and of course a gaggle of cachinnatous humans. The Earthlings mixed with their Tymbrimi allies down near the refreshment tables, making a boisterous high time of it. She remembered her att.i.tude then, upon seeing so many of the atrichic, bromopnean creatures. Was I really Such a sn.o.b? Athaclena wondered.

She had sniffed disdainfully at the noise the humans made with their loud, low laughter. Their strange, applanate stares were everywhere as they strutted about displaying their bulging muscles. Even their females looked like caricatures of Tymbrimi weightlifters.

Of course, Athaclena had barely embarked on adolescence back on that day. Now, on reflection, she recalled that her own people were just as enthusiastic and flamboyant as the humans, waving their hands intricately and sparking the air with brief, flashing glyphs. This was, after all, a great day. For the Tytlal were to "choose" their patrons, and their new Uplift Sponsors.

Various dignitaries rested under the bright canopies. Of course the immediate patrons of the Tymbrimi, the Caltmour, could not attend, being tragically extinct. But their colors and sigil were in view, in honor of those who had given the Tymbrimi the gift of sapience.

Those present were honored, however^ by a delegation of the chattering, stalk-legged Brma, who had uplifted the Caltmour long, long ago.

Athaclena remembered gasping, her corona crackling in surprise, when she saw that another shape curled under a dark brown covering, high upon the ceremonial mount. It was a Krallnith! The seniormost race in their patron-line had sent a representative! The Krallnith were nearly torpid by now, having given over most of their waning enthusiasm to strange forms of meditation. It was commonly a.s.sumed they would not be around many more epochs. It was an honor to have one of them attend, and offer its blessing to the latest members of their clan.

Of course, it was the Tytlal themselves who were the center of attention. Wearing short silvery robes, they nonetheless looked much like those Earth creatures known as otters. The Tytlal legatees fairly radiated pride as they prepared for their latest rite of Uplift.

"Look," Athaclena's mother had pointed. "The Tytlal have elected their muse-poet, Sustruk, to represent them. Do you recall meeting him, Athaclena?"

Naturally she remembered. It had been only the year before, when Sustruk visited their home back in the city. Uthacalthing had brought the Tytlal genius by to meet his wife and daughter, shortly before he was to leave on his latest mission.

"Sustruk's poetry is simpleminded doggerel," Athaclena muttered.

Mathicluanna looked at her sharply. Then her corona waved. The glyph she crafted was sh'cha'kuon, the dark mirror only your own mother knew how to hold up before you. Athaclena's resentment reflected back at her, easily seen for what it was. She looked away, shamed.

It was, after all, unfair to blame the poor Tytlal for reminding her of her absent father.

The ceremony was indeed beautiful. A glyph-choir of Tymbrimi from the colony-world Juthtath performed "The Apotheosis of Lerensini," and even the bare-pated humans stared in slack-jawed awe, obviously kenning some of the intricate, floating harmonies. Only the bluff, impenetrable Thennanin amba.s.sadors seemed untouched, and they did not seem to mind at all being left out.

After that the Brma singer Kuff-KufFt crooned an ancient, atonal paean to the Progenitors.

One bad moment for Athaclena came when the hushed audience listened to a composition specially created for the occasion by one of the twelve Great Dreamers of Earth, the whale named Five Bubble Spirals. While whales were not officially sentient beings, that fact did not keep them from being honored treasures. That they dwelled on Earth, under the care of "wolfling" humans, was one more cause for resentment by some of the more conservative Galactic clans.

Athaclena recalled sitting down and covering her ears while everyone else swayed happily to the eerie cetacean music. To her it was worse than the sound of houses falling. Mathicluanna's glance conveyed her worry. My strange daughter, what are we to do with you? At least Athaclena's mother did not chide aloud or in glyph, embarra.s.sing her in public.

At last, to Athaclena's great relief, the entertainment ended. It was the turn of the Tytlal delegation, the time of Acceptance and Choice.

Led by Sustruk, their great poet, the delegation approached the supine Krallnith dignitary and bowed low. Then they made their allegiance to the Brma representatives, and afterward expressed polite submissiveness to the humans and other patron-cla.s.s alien visitors.

The Tymbrimi Master of Uplift received obeisance last. Sustruk and his consort, a Tytlal scientist named Kihimik, stepped ahead of the rest of their delegation as the mated pair chosen above all others to be "race representatives." Alternately, they replied as the Master of Uplift read a list of formal questions and solemnly noted their answers.

Then the pair came under the scrutiny of the Critics from the Galactic Uplift Inst.i.tute.

Thus far it had been a perfunctory version of the Fourth Stage Test of Sentience. But now there was one more chance for the Tytlal to fail. One of the Galactics focusing sophisticated instruments on Sustruk and Kihimik, was a Soro . . . no friend of Athaclena's clan. Possibly the Soro was looking for an excuse, any excuse, to embarra.s.s the Tymbrimi by rejecting their clients.

Discreetly buried under the caldera was equipment that had cost Athaclena's race plenty. Right now the scrutiny of the Tytlal was being cast all through the Five Galaxies. There was much to be proud of today, but also some potential for humiliation.

Of course Sustruk and Kihimik pa.s.sed efasily. They bowed low to each of the alien examiners. If the Soro examiner was disappointed, she did not show it.

The delegation of furry, short-legged Tytlal ambled up to a cleared circle at the top of the hill. They began to sing, swaying together in that queer, loose-limbed manner so common among the creatures of their native planet, the fallow world where they had evolved into pre-sentience, where the Tymbrimi had found and adopted them for the long process of Uplift.

Technicians focused the amplifier which would display for all those a.s.sembled, and billions on other worlds, the choice the Tytlal had made. Underfoot, a deep rumbling told of powerful engines at work.

Theoretically, the creatures could even decide to reject their patrons and abandon Uplift altogether, though there were so many rules and qualifications that in practice it was almost never allowed. Anyway, nothing like that was expected on that day. The Tymbrimi had excellent relations with their clients.

Still, a dry, anxious rustling swept the crowd as the Rite of Acceptance approached completion. The swaying Tytlal moaned, and a low hum rose from the amplifier. Overhead a holographic image took shape, and the crowd roared with laughter and approval. It was the face of a Tymbrimi, of course, and one everyone recognized at once. Oshoyoythuna, Trickster of the City of Foyon, who had included several Tytlal as helpers in some of his most celebrated jests.

Of course the Tytlal had reaffirmed the Tymbrimi as their patrons, but choosing Oshoyoythuna as their symbol went far beyond that! It exclaimed the Tytlal's pride in what it really meant to be part of their clan.

After the cheering and laughter died down, there remained only one part of the ceremony to finish, the selection of the Stage Consort, the species who would speak for the Tytlal during the next phase of their Uplift. The humans, in their strange tongue, called it the Uplift Midwife.

The Stage Consort had to be of a race outside of the Tymbrimi's own clan. And while the position was mostly ceremonial, a Consort could legally intervene on the new client species' behalf, if the Uplift process appeared to be in trouble. Wrong choices in the past had created terrible problems.

No one had any idea what race the Tytlal had chosen. It was one of those rare decisions that even the most meddlesome patrons, such as the Soro, had to leave to their charges.

Sustruk and Kihimik crooned once more, and even from her position at the back of the crowd Athaclena could sense a growing feeling of antic.i.p.ation rising from the furry little clients. The little devils had cooked up something, that was certain!

Again, the ground shuddered, the amplifier murmured once more, and holographic projectors formed a blue cloudiness over the crest of the hill. In it there seemed to float murky shapes, flicking back and forth as if through backlit water.

Her corona offered no clue, for the image was strictly visual. She resented the humans their sharper eyesight as a shout of surprise rose from the area where most of the Earthlings had congregated. All around her, Tymbrimi were standing up and staring. She blinked. Then Athaclena and her mother joined the rest in amazed disbelief.

One of the murky figures flicked up to the foreground and stopped, grinning out at the audience, displaying a long, narrow grin of white, needle-sharp teeth. There was a glittering eye, and bubbles rose from its glistening gray brow.

The stunned silence lengthened. For in all of Ifhi's starfield, n.o.body had expected the Tytlal to choose dolphins!

The visiting Galactics were stricken dumb. Neo-dolphins . . . why the seeond client race of Earth were the youngest acknowledged sapients in all five galaxies-much younger than the Tytlal themselves! This was unprecedented. It was astonishing.

It was . . .

It was hilarious! The Tymbrimi cheered. Their laughter rose, high and clear. As one, their coronae sparkled upward a single, coruscating glyph of approval so vivid that even the Thennanin Amba.s.sador seemed to blink and take notice. Seeing that their allies weren't offended, the humans joined in, hooting and slapping their hands together with intimidating energy.

Kihimik and most of the other a.s.sembled Tytlal bowed, accepting their patrons' accolade. Good clients, it seemed they had worked hard to come up with a fine jest for this important day. Only Sustruk himself stood rigid at the rear, still quivering from the strain.

All around Athaclena crested waves of approval and joy. She heard her mother's laughter, joining in with the others.

But Athaclena herself had backed away, edging out of the cheering crowd until there was room to turn and flee. In a full gheer flux, she ran and ran until she pa.s.sed the caldera's rim and could drop down the trail out of sight or sound. There, overlooking the beautiful Valley of Lingering Shadows, she collapsed to the ground while the waves of enzyme reaction shook her.

That horrible dolphin . . .

Never since that day had she confided in anyone what she had seen in the eye of the imaged cetacean. Not to her mother, nor even her father, had she ever told the truth . . . that she had sensed deep within that projected hologram a glyph, one rising from Sustruk himself, the poet of the Tytlal.

Those present thought it was all a grand jest, a magnificent blague. They thought they knew why the Tytlal had chosen the youngest race of Earth as their Stage Consort . . . to honor the clan with a grand and harmless joke. By choosing dolphins, they seemed to be saying that they needed no protector, that they loved and honored their Tymbrimi patrons without reservation. And by selecting the humans' second clients, they also tweaked those stodgy old Galactic clans who so disapproved of the Tymbrimi's friendship with wolf-lings. It was a fine gesture. Delicious.

Had Athaclena been the only one, then, to see the deeper truth? Had she imagined it? Many years later on a distant planet, Athaclena shivered as she recalled that day.

Had she been the only one to pick up Sustruk's third harmonic of laughter and pain and confusion? The muse-poet died only days after that episode, and he took his secret with him to his grave.

Only Athaclena seemed to sense that the Ceremony had been no joke, after all, that Sustruk's image had not come from his thoughts but out of Time! The Tytlal had, indeed, chosen their protectors, and the choice was in desperate earnest.

Now, only a few years later, the Five Galaxies had been sent into turmoil over certain discoveries made by a certain obscure client race, the youngest of them all. Dolphins.

Oh, Earthlings, she thought as she followed Robert higher into the Mountains of Mulun. What have you done? No, that was not the right question. What, oh what is it you are planning to become?

That afternoon the two wanderers encountered a steep field of plate ivy. A plain of glossy, wide-brimmed plants covered the southeastward slope of the ridge like green, overlapping scales on the flank of some great, slumbering beast. Their path to the mountains was blocked.

"I'll bet you're wondering how we'll get across all this to the other side," Robert asked.

"The slope looks treacherous," Athaclena ventured. "And it stretches far in both directions. I suppose we'll have to turn around."

There was something in the fringes of Robert's mind, though, that made that seem unlikely. "These are fascinating plants," he said, squatting next to one of the plates-a shieldlike inverted bowl almost two meters across. He grabbed its edge and yanked backward hard. The plate stretched away from the tightly bound field until Athaclena could see a tough, springy root attached to its center. She moved closer to help him pull, wondering what he had in mind.

"The colony buds a new generation of these caps every few weeks, each layer overlapping the prior one," Robert explained as he grunted and tugged the fibrous root taut.

"In late autumn the last layers of caps flower and becoijie wafer thin. They break off and catch the strong winter winds, sailing into the sky, millions of 'em. It's quite a sight, believe me, all those rainbow-colored kites drifting under the clouds, even if it is a hazard to flyers."

"They are seeds, then?" Athaclena asked.

"Well, spore carriers, actually. And most of the pods that litter the Sind in early winter are sterile. Seems the plate ivy used to rely on some pollinating creature that went extinct during the Bururalli Holocaust. Just one more problem for the ecological recovery teams to deal with." -Robert shrugged. "Right now, though, in the springtime, these early caps are rigid and strong. It'll take some doing to cut one free."

Robert drew his knife and reached under to slice away at the taut fibers holding the cap down. The strips parted suddenly, releasing the tension and throwing Athaclena back with the bulky plate on top of her.

"Oops! I'm sorry, Clennie." She felt Robert's effort to suppress laughter as he helped her struggle out from under the heavy cap. Just like a bby . . . Athaclena thought.

"Are you okay?"

"I am fine," she answered stiffly, and dusted herself off. Tipped over, the plate's inner, concave side looked like a bowl with a thick, central stem of ragged, sticky strands.

"Good. Then why don't you help me carry it over to that sandy bank, near the dropoff."

The field of plate ivy stretched around the prominence of the ridge, surrounding it on three sides. Together they hefted the detached cap over to where the b.u.mpy green slope began, laying it inner face up.

Robert set to work tr.i.m.m.i.n.g the ragged interior of the plate. After a few minutes he stood back and examined his handiwork. "This should do." He nudged the plate with his foot. "Your father wanted me to show you everything I could about Garth. In my opinion your education'd be truly lacking if I never taught you to ride plate ivy."

Athaclena looked from the upended plate to the scree of slick caps. "Do you mean ..." But Robert was already loading their gear into the upturned bowl. "You cannot be serious, Robert."

He shrugged, looking up at her sidelong. "We can backtrack a mile or two and find a way around all this, if you like."

"You aren't joking." Athacleana sighed. It was bad enough that her father and her friends back home thought her too timid. She could not refuse a dare offered by this human. "Very well, Robert, show me how it is done."

Robert stepped into the plate and checked its balance. Then he motioned for her to join him. She climbed into the rocking thing and sat where Robert indicated, in front of him with her knees on either side of the central stump.

It was then, with her corona waving in nervous agitation, that it happened again. Athaclena sensed something that made her convulsively clutch the rubbery sides of the plate, setting it rocking.

"Hey! Watch it, will you? You almost tipped us over!"

Athaclena grabbed his arm while she scanned the valley below. All around her face a haze of tiny tendrils fluttered. "I kenn it again. It's down there, Robert. Somewhere in the forest!"

'What? What's down there?"

"The ent.i.ty I kenned earlier! The thing that was neither man nor chimpanzee! It was a little like either, and yet different. And it reeks with Potential!"

Robert shaded his eyes. "Where? Can you point to it?"

Athaclena concentrated. She tried localizing the faint brush of emotions.

"It ... it is gone," she sighed at last.

Robert radiated nervousness. "Are you sure it wasn't just a chim? There are lots of them up in these hills, seisin gatherers and conservation workers."

Athaclena cast a palang glyph. Then, recalling that Robert wasn't likely to notice the sparkling essence of frustration. She shrugged to indicate approximately the same nuance.

"No, Robert. I have met many neo-chimpanzees, remember? The being I sensed was different! I'd swear it wasn't fully sapient, for one thing. And, there was a feeling of sadness, of submerged power. ..."

Athaclena turned to Robert, suddenly excited. "Can it have been a 'Garthling'? Oh, let's hurry! We might be able to get closer!" She settled in around the center post and looked up at Robert expectantly.

"The famed Tymbrimi adaptability," Robert sighed. "All of a sudden you're anxious to go! And here I'd been hoping to impress and arouse you with a white-knuckler ride."

Boys, she thought again, shaking her head vigorously. How can they think such things, even in jest?

"Stop joking and let's be off!" she urged.

He settled into the plate behind her. Athaclena held on tightly to his knees. Her tendrils waved about his face, but Robert did not complain. "All right, here we go."

His musty human aroma was close around her as he pushed off and the plate began to slip forward.

It all came back to Robert as their makeshift sled accelerated, skidding and bouncing over the slick, convex caps of plate ivy. Athaclena gripped his knees tightly, her laughter higher and more bell-like than a human girl's. Robert, too, laughed and shouted, holding Athaclena as he leaned one way and then the other to steer the madly hopping sled.

Must've been eleven years old when I did this last.

Every jounce and leap made his heart pound. Not even an amus.e.m.e.nt park gravity ride was like this! Athaclena let out a squeak of exhilaration as they sailed free and landed again with a rubbery rebound. Her corona was a storm of silvery threads that seemed to crackle with excitement.

I only hope I remember how to control this thing right.

Maybe it was his rustiness. Or it might have been Athaclena's presence, distracting him. But Robert was just a little late reacting when the near-oak stump-a remnant of the forest that had once grown on this slope-loomed suddenly in their path.

Athaclena laughed in delight as Robert leaned hard to the left, swerving their crude boat wildly. By the time she sensed his sudden change of mood their spin was already a tumble, out of control. Then their plate caught on something unseen. Impact swerved them savagely, sending the contents of the sled flying.

At that moment luck and Tymbrimi instincts were with Athaclena. Stress hormones surged and reflexes tucked her head down, rolling her into a ball. On impact her body made its own sled, bouncing and skidding atop the plates like a rubbery ball.

It all happened in a blur. Giants' fists struck her, tossed her about. A great roar filled her ears and her corona blazed as she spun and fell, again and again.

Finally Athaclena tumbled to a halt, still curled up tight, just short of the forest on the valley floor. At first she could only lie there as the gheer enzymes made her pay the price for her quick reflexes. Breath came in long, shuddering gasps; her high and low kidneys throbbed, struggling with the sudden overload.

And there was pain. Athaclena had trouble localizing it. She seemed only to have picked up a few bruises and sc.r.a.pes. So where . . . ?

Realization came in a rush as she uncurled and opened her eyes. The pain was coming from Robert! Her Earthling guide was broadcasting blinding surges of agony!

She got up gingerly, still dizzy from reaction, and shaded her eyes to look around the bright hillside. The human wasn't in sight, so she sought him with her corona. The searing painflood led her stumbling awkwardly over the glossy plates to a point not far from the upended sled.

Robert's legs kicked weakly from under a layer of broad plate ivy caps. An effort to back out culminated in a low, m.u.f.fled moan. A sparkling shower of hot agones seemed to home right in on Athaclena's corona.

She knelt beside him. "Robert! Are you caught on something? Can you breathe?"