th Ethan. He can't eat sweets, either." She
looked at her creation. "Seems a shame to bring it so far to somebody
who can't touch it. Do you mind if I cut myself a slice?"

"Go ahead, Grandma."

"Amantha," she corrected him and brought out a knife and two small
plates. He wondered if there was any significance. _Two_ plates.

She laid a slice on the plate and poked at it with a fork that was also
in the package. She put the fork down and picked up the cake.

"It don't taste right unless you eat it the way it was meant to be," she
said.

He watched her in anguish. His nose quivered and his stomach rumbled. He
shouldn't have let them in.

A crumb fell to the floor and Amantha reached for it. She straightened
up, a berry in her hand.

"Canalberries," she said. "They're nearly all gone. Used to be you could
hardly go anywhere without stepping in them."

She crushed the berry and the rich aroma swept devastatingly through the
air.

"Sure you won't have some?" she asked, slicing the cake and placing it
in front of him. When he finished that, he cut another, and another,
until the cake was gone.

The pilot settled logily in a chair and dozed off. Amantha and Ethan
watched him in silence.

The pilot got up and began to stretch lazily without seeming to notice
them. The laziness disappeared and the stretch changed into a jerk that
seemed to elongate his body. He sprang out of the compartment and went
leaping down the corridor. When he came to the hatch, he didn't
hesitate. The ladder was too slow. He jumped.

He landed on the sand, sinking in to his knees. He extricated himself
and went bounding over the field.

"Never saw canalberries take so long," muttered Amantha. "Don't know
what's wrong. Nothing's as good as it used to be."

She shook off her hat and closed the airlock.

"You don't need those nose plugs any more, Ethan. Come on, let's see if
you remember."

* * * * *

Several hours later, she twirled unfamiliar knobs and, by persistence
and beginner's luck, managed to get the person she wanted.

"You the commander?" Since he had a harassed look, she assumed he was.
"Thought you might be worried about that poor boy."

"Madam, what do you want?" He scowled at the offscreen miscreant who had
mistakenly summoned him. "I'm chasing criminals. I haven't got time to
chat about old times."

"Don't sass me. I thought you might want to know how to stop that poor
boy from runni