By H. B. Fyfe THE TALKATIVE TREE Dang vines! Beats all how some plants have no manners--but what do you expect, when they used to be men! All things considered--the obscure star, the undetermined damage to thestellar drive and the way the small planet's murky atmosphere defiedprecision scanners--the pilot made a reasonably good landing. Despitesour feelings for the space service of Haurtoz, steward Peter Kolin hadto admit that casualties might have been far worse. Chief Steward Slichow led his little command, less two third-classration keepers thought to have been trapped in the lower hold, to apoint two hundred meters from the steaming hull of the _Peace State_. Helined them up as if on parade. Kolin made himself inconspicuous. "Since the crew will be on emergency watches repairing the damage, "announced the Chief in clipped, aggressive tones, "I have volunteered mysection for preliminary scouting, as is suitable. It may be useful todiscover temporary sources in this area of natural foods. " _Volunteered HIS section!_ thought Kolin rebelliously. _Like the Supreme Director of Haurtoz! Being conscripted into thisidiotic space fleet that never fights is bad enough without a tin god onjets like Slichow!_ Prudently, he did not express this resentment overtly. His well-schooled features revealed no trace of the idea--or of anyother idea. The Planetary State of Haurtoz had been organized somefifteen light-years from old Earth, but many of the home world's lesskindly techniques had been employed. Lack of complete loyalty to thestate was likely to result in a siege of treatment that left the subjectsuitably "re-personalized. " Kolin had heard of instances wherein mereunenthusiastic posture had betrayed intentions to harbor treasonablethoughts. "You will scout in five details of three persons each, " Chief Slichowsaid. "Every hour, each detail will send one person in to report, and hewill be replaced by one of the five I shall keep here to issue rations. " Kolin permitted himself to wonder when anyone might get some rest, butassumed a mildly willing look. (Too eager an attitude could arousesuspicion of disguising an improper viewpoint. ) The maintenance of aproper viewpoint was a necessity if the Planetary State were to survivethe hostile plots of Earth and the latter's decadent colonies. That, atleast, was the official line. Kolin found himself in a group with Jak Ammet, a third cook, and EvaYrtok, powdered foods storekeeper. Since the crew would be eatingpackaged rations during repairs, Yrtok could be spared to command ascout detail. Each scout was issued a rocket pistol and a plastic water tube. ChiefSlichow emphasized that the keepers of rations could hardly, in anemergency, give even the appearance of favoring themselves in regard tofood. They would go without. Kolin maintained a standard expression asthe Chief's sharp stare measured them. Yrtok, a dark, lean-faced girl, led the way with a quiet monosyllable. She carried the small radio they would be permitted to use for messagesof utmost urgency. Ammet followed, and Kolin brought up the rear. * * * * * To reach their assigned sector, they had to climb a forbidding ridge ofrock within half a kilometer. Only a sparse creeper grew along theirway, its elongated leaves shimmering with bronze-green reflectionsagainst a stony surface; but when they topped the ridge a thick forestwas in sight. Yrtok and Ammet paused momentarily before descending. Kolin shared their sense of isolation. They would be out of sight ofauthority and responsible for their own actions. It was a strangesensation. They marched down into the valley at a brisk pace, becoming more awareof the clouds and atmospheric haze. Distant objects seemed blurred bythe mist, taking on a somber, brooding grayness. For all Kolin couldtell, he and the others were isolated in a world bounded by the rockyridge behind them and a semi-circle of damp trees and bushes severalhundred meters away. He suspected that the hills rising mistily aheadwere part of a continuous slope, but could not be sure. Yrtok led the way along the most nearly level ground. Low creepersbecame more plentiful, interspersed with scrubby thickets of tangled, spike-armored bushes. Occasionally, small flying things flickered amongthe foliage. Once, a shrub puffed out an enormous cloud of tiny spores. "Be a job to find anything edible here, " grunted Ammet, and Kolinagreed. Finally, after a longer hike than he had anticipated, they approachedthe edge of the deceptively distant forest. Yrtok paused to examine somepurple berries glistening dangerously on a low shrub. Kolin regarded thetrees with misgiving. "Looks as tough to get through as a tropical jungle, " he remarked. "I think the stuff puts out shoots that grow back into the ground toroot as they spread, " said the woman. "Maybe we can find a way through. " In two or three minutes, they reached the abrupt border of theodd-looking trees. Except for one thick trunked giant, all of them were about the sameheight. They craned their necks to estimate the altitude of the monster, but the top was hidden by the wide spread of branches. The depths behindit looked dark and impenetrable. "We'd better explore along the edge, " decided Yrtok. "Ammet, now is thetime to go back and tell the Chief which way we're--_Ammet!_" Kolin looked over his shoulder. Fifty meters away, Ammet sat beside thebush with the purple berries, utterly relaxed. "He must have tasted some!" exclaimed Kolin. "I'll see how he is. " He ran back to the cook and shook him by the shoulder. Ammet's headlolled loosely to one side. His rather heavy features were vacant, lending him a doped appearance. Kolin straightened up and beckoned toYrtok. For some reason, he had trouble attracting her attention. Then henoticed that she was kneeling. "Hope she didn't eat some stupid thing too!" he grumbled, trotting back. As he reached her, whatever Yrtok was examining came to life and scootedinto the underbrush with a flash of greenish fur. All Kolin saw was thatit had several legs too many. He pulled Yrtok to her feet. She pawed at him weakly, eyes as vacant asAmmet's. When he let go in sudden horror, she folded gently to theground. She lay comfortably on her side, twitching one hand as if tobrush something away. When she began to smile dreamily, Kolin backed away. * * * * * The corners of his mouth felt oddly stiff; they had involuntarily drawnback to expose his clenched teeth. He glanced warily about, but nothingappeared to threaten him. "It's time to end this scout, " he told himself. "It's dangerous. Onegood look and I'm jetting off! What I need is an easy tree to climb. " He considered the massive giant. Soaring thirty or forty meters into thethin fog and dwarfing other growth, it seemed the most promising choice. At first, Kolin saw no way, but then the network of vines clinging tothe rugged trunk suggested a route. He tried his weight gingerly, thenbegan to climb. "I should have brought Yrtok's radio, " he muttered. "Oh, well, I cantake it when I come down, if she hasn't snapped out of her spell bythen. Funny . .. I wonder if that green thing bit her. " Footholds were plentiful among the interlaced lianas. Kolin progressedrapidly. When he reached the first thick limbs, twice head height, hefelt safer. Later, at what he hoped was the halfway mark, he hooked one knee over abranch and paused to wipe sweat from his eyes. Peering down, hediscovered the ground to be obscured by foliage. "I should have checked from down there to see how open the top is, " hemused. "I wonder how the view will be from up there?" "Depends on what you're looking for, Sonny!" something remarked in asoughing wheeze. Kolin, slipping, grabbed desperately for the branch. His fingersclutched a handful of twigs and leaves, which just barely supported himuntil he regained a grip with the other hand. The branch quivered resentfully under him. "Careful, there!" whooshed the eerie voice. "It took me all summer togrow those!" Kolin could feel the skin crawling along his backbone. "Who _are_ you?" he gasped. The answering sigh of laughter gave him a distinct chill despite itssuggestion of amiability. "Name's Johnny Ashlew. Kinda thought you'd start with _what_ I am. Didn't figure you'd ever seen a man grown into a tree before. " Kolin looked about, seeing little but leaves and fog. "I have to climb down, " he told himself in a reasonable tone. "It's badenough that the other two passed out without me going space happy too. " "What's your hurry?" demanded the voice. "I can talk to you just as easyall the way down, you know. Airholes in my bark--I'm not like an Earthtree. " Kolin examined the bark of the crotch in which he sat. It did seem tohave assorted holes and hollows in its rough surface. "I never saw an Earth tree, " he admitted. "We came from Haurtoz. " "Where's that? Oh, never mind--some little planet. I don't bother withthem all, since I came here and found out I could be anything I wanted. " "What do you mean, anything you wanted?" asked Kolin, testing thefirmness of a vertical vine. * * * * * "Just what I said, " continued the voice, sounding closer in his ear ashis cheek brushed the ridged bark of the tree trunk. "And, if I do haveto remind you, it would be nicer if you said 'Mr. Ashlew, ' consideringmy age. " "Your age? How old--?" "Can't really count it in Earth years any more. Lost track. I alwaysfigured bein' a tree was a nice, peaceful life; and when I rememberedhow long some of them live, that settled it. Sonny, this world ain'tall it looks like. " "It isn't, Mr. Ashlew?" asked Kolin, twisting about in an effort to seewhat the higher branches might hide. "Nope. Most everything here is run by the Life--that is, by the thingthat first grew big enough to do some thinking, and set its roots downall over until it had control. That's the outskirts of it down below. " "The other trees? That jungle?" "It's more'n a jungle, Sonny. When I landed here, along with the othersfrom the _Arcturan Spark_, the planet looked pretty empty to me, justlike it must have to--Watch it, there, Boy! If I didn't twist thatbranch over in time, you'd be bouncing off my roots right now!" "Th-thanks!" grunted Kolin, hanging on grimly. "Doggone vine!" commented the windy whisper. "_He_ ain't one of mycrowd. Landed years later in a ship from some star towards the center ofthe galaxy. You should have seen his looks before the Life got in touchwith his mind and set up a mental field to help him change form. Helooks twice as good as a vine!" "He's very handy, " agreed Kolin politely. He groped for a foothold. "Well . .. Matter of fact, I can't get through to him much, even with theLife's mental field helping. Guess he started living with a differentway of thinking. It burns me. I thought of being a tree, and then hecame along to take advantage of it!" Kolin braced himself securely to stretch tiring muscles. "Maybe I'd better stay a while, " he muttered. "I don't know where I am. " "You're about fifty feet up, " the sighing voice informed him. "You oughtto let me tell you how the Life helps you change form. You don't _have_to be a tree. " "No?" "_Uh_-uh! Some of the boys that landed with me wanted to get around andsee things. Lots changed to animals or birds. One even stayed a man--onthe outside anyway. Most of them have to change as the bodies wear out, which I don't, and some made bad mistakes tryin' to be things they sawon other planets. " "I wouldn't want to do that, Mr. Ashlew. " "There's just one thing. The Life don't like taking chances on wordabout this place gettin' around. It sorta believes in peace and quiet. You might not get back to your ship in any form that could tell tales. " "Listen!" Kolin blurted out. "I wasn't so much enjoying being what I wasthat getting back matters to me!" "Don't like your home planet, whatever the name was?" "Haurtoz. It's a rotten place. A Planetary State! You have to think andeven look the way that's standard thirty hours a day, asleep or awake. You get scared to sleep for fear you might _dream_ treason and they'dfind out somehow. " "Whooeee! Heard about them places. Must be tough just to live. " Suddenly, Kolin found himself telling the tree about life on Haurtoz, and of the officially announced threats to the Planetary State's plannedexpansion. He dwelt upon the desperation of having no place to hide incase of trouble with the authorities. A multiple system of such worldswas agonizing to imagine. * * * * * Somehow, the oddity of talking to a tree wore off. Kolin heard opinionsspouting out which he had prudently kept bottled up for years. The more he talked and stormed and complained, the more relaxed he felt. "If there was ever a fellow ready for this planet, " decided the treenamed Ashlew, "you're it, Sonny! Hang on there while I signal the Lifeby root!" Kolin sensed a lack of direct attention. The rustle about him wasnatural, caused by an ordinary breeze. He noticed his hands shaking. "Don't know what got into me, talking that way to a tree, " he muttered. "If Yrtok snapped out of it and heard, I'm as good as re-personalizedright now. " As he brooded upon the sorry choice of arousing a search by hiding wherehe was or going back to bluff things out, the tree spoke. "Maybe you're all set, Sonny. The Life has been thinkin' of learningabout other worlds. If you can think of a safe form to jet off in, youmight make yourself a deal. How'd you like to stay here?" "I don't know, " said Kolin. "The penalty for desertion--" "Whoosh! Who'd find you? You could be a bird, a tree, even a cloud. " Silenced but doubting, Kolin permitted himself to try the dream on forsize. He considered what form might most easily escape the notice of searchparties and still be tough enough to live a long time without renewal. Another factor slipped into his musings: mere hope of escape wasunsatisfying after the outburst that had defined his fuming hatred forHaurtoz. _I'd better watch myself!_ he thought. _Don't drop diamonds to grab atstars!_ "What I wish I could do is not just get away but get even for the waythey make us live . .. The whole damn set-up. They could just as easymake peace with the Earth colonies. You know why they don't?" "Why?" wheezed Ashlew. "They're scared that without talk of war, and scouting for Earth fleetsthat never come, people would have time to think about the way they haveto live and who's running things in the Planetary State. Then the gravytrain would get blown up--and I mean blown up!" The tree was silent for a moment. Kolin felt the branches stirmeditatively. Then Ashlew offered a suggestion. "I could tell the Life your side of it, " he hissed. "Once in with us, you can always make thinking connections, no matter how far away. Maybeyou could make a deal to kill two birds with one stone, as they used tosay on Earth. .. . " * * * * * Chief Steward Slichow paced up and down beside the ration crate turnedup to serve him as a field desk. He scowled in turn, impartially, at hiswatch and at the weary stewards of his headquarters detail. The latterstumbled about, stacking and distributing small packets of emergencyrations. The line of crewmen released temporarily from repair work was transientas to individuals but immutable as to length. Slichow muttered somethingprofane about disregard of orders as he glared at the rocky ridgessurrounding the landing place. He was so intent upon planning greetings with which to favor the tardyscouting parties that he failed to notice the loose cloud drifting overthe ridge. It was tenuous, almost a haze. Close examination would have revealed itto be made up of myriads of tiny spores. They resembled those cast forthby one of the bushes Kolin's party had passed. Along the edges, the hazefaded raggedly into thin air, but the units evidently formed a cohesivebody. They drifted together, approaching the men as if takingintelligent advantage of the breeze. One of Chief Slichow's staggering flunkies, stealing a few seconds ofrelaxation on the pretext of dumping an armful of light plastic packing, wandered into the haze. He froze. After a few heartbeats, he dropped the trash and stared at ship and menas if he had never seen either. A hail from his master moved him. "Coming, Chief!" he called but, returning at a moderate pace, hemurmured, "My name is Frazer. I'm a second assistant steward. I'll thinkas Unit One. " Throughout the cloud of spores, the mind formerly known as Peter Kolincongratulated itself upon its choice of form. _Nearer to the original shape of the Life than Ashlew got_, he thought. He paused to consider the state of the tree named Ashlew, half immortalbut rooted to one spot, unable to float on a breeze or through spaceitself on the pressure of light. Especially, it was unable to insinuateany part of itself into the control center of another form of life, as asecond spore was taking charge of the body of Chief Slichow at that veryinstant. _There are not enough men_, thought Kolin. _Some of me must driftthrough the airlock. In space, I can spread through the air system tothe command group. _ Repairs to the _Peace State_ and the return to Haurtoz passed like weeksto some of the crew but like brief moments in infinity to other units. At last, the ship parted the air above Headquarters City and landed. The unit known as Captain Theodor Kessel hesitated before descending theramp. He surveyed the field, the city and the waiting team of inspectingofficers. "Could hardly be better, could it?" he chuckled to the companion unitcalled Security Officer Tarth. "Hardly, sir. All ready for the liberation of Haurtoz. " "Reformation of the Planetary State, " mused the captain, smilingdreamily as he grasped the handrail. "And then--formation of thePlanetary Mind!" END [ Transcriber's Note: This e-text was produced from Worlds of If January 1962. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S. Copyright on this publication was renewed. ]