Starquake.pdf

the Inner Eye Institute. Most of the compounds here had their window slides closed, so there wasn't
much to see except wall. The intersections were irregular and he found he had gone too far east before
he realized he should have taken a north-west tack back a few intersections. The north-west street he
had available now was 60 degrees north of east instead of the nominal 30 degrees. Grunting with
annoyance at himself, he pushed his way across the intersection, found the south wall of the street and
pushed north-west, this time more north than west. A robotic glide-car for hire passed in the sparse
traffic and he was tempted to wave it down, but it was going in the wrong direction, and besides, he
could use the exercise.
As Old Town changed to the suburbs of Bright's Heaven, the street pattern became more regular. The
main thoroughfares ran straight east and west, with the side-pairs of streets angled off at exactly 30
degrees north from east in crisscrossing patterns that formed diamond and triangular blocks. The
personal compounds were built right up to the walkway, and the walls had been coated with frictionless
tile to allow for rapid motion
of pedestrian traffic north and south. Most of the compounds now had their window slides back so
Cliff-Web could look into the outer courtyards.
He stopped to admire the plant arrangement in one fence-port. Someone had taken a normal, triangular
window opening and had inserted cleft-brackets between alternate courses of bricks, making an
ascending staircase of cleft-brackets. A single heavy stem came up from the crust, divided into two
branches that went up from the sides of the triangular notch, then spread its web over one cleft support
after another. Being staggered, each web of the multi-webbed plant was able to see the dark sky and
thrive. The top two clefts in the arrangement were not yet webbed, but he could see the little tendrils
being trained to make the next step. Surrounding the growing tips were little boxes. He couldn't figure out
what they were. He was impressed with the display. As he moved over the nameplate embedded in the
walkway in front of the door, he took note of the name. D. M. Zero-Gauss, 2412 North-West 7th
Street. Must be a professor at the Institute. He would have to arrange a visit to discuss gardening some
turn.
Cliff-Web didn't miss the proper intersection now that he was back again in familiar territory. He tacked
north-west past his compound, still a number of diamonds to the north, made the sharp turn to the
north-east onto his own street, and headed for home. His compound was one of the largest in the
neighborhood. It took up a whole diamond to itself. After he had earned the huge incentive bonus for
coming in way under the target cost for the design of the Space Fountain, he had enough stars to his
credit that he bought out his neighbors, tore down the walls between the four plots, and expanded his old
personal compound. One of his neighbor's compounds had been turned into a workroom, another into a
potting yard and heatbed for new sprouts, and the third into quarters for his pets. He whispered a happy
electronic whistle into the crust as he approached his compound. Happy noises echoed back.
He was first greeted by Chilly, the genetically miniaturized hybrid Swift. Chilly had slithered up to the top
of the compound fence, its tail wrapped around the street-sign post built into the corner, and greeted him
with up and down bows of its head. The five sharp-pointed teeth would spring
out to show a glowing white maw, then draw back in again as it swallowed. Chilly took a swipe at the
cleft-wort plant Cliff-Web was carrying on his back, but Cliff-Web diverted the animal by sticking a
manipulator down its gullet. Chilly's razor-sharp teeth, which could have amputated the end of his
manipulator in one bite, just scraped the skin slightly and continued to mouth the manipulator as he pulled
it free. Cliff-Web paused to let Chilly slide onto his topside and reached through the fence window to pat
a few friendly bodies on the other side. He reached his doorway, pulled out his magnekey, unlocked the
fence-door, and slid it into the wall. He was immediately surrounded by three Slinks, a half-dozen