“Listen. Listen!” In a bit, the crowd settled down again, and LifeCrier continued. “Look around you. Look at your neighbors. A year ago, this humble place, this PackHome, was a desperate and dying place. Hemmed in by other packs, we faced an invasion from the Hill of Stars. The WalkingStones were terrible enemies: Tall and swift, able to kill with a glance, they were as deadly as silent sharpfangs and twice as hard to kill. The game was driven away, and our young hunters were slain without honor. If ever there was a place that needed the OldMother, surely PackHome was it.

“Now, some have said that the OldMother has grown deaf to the cries of the kin, and her heart has long since hardened against us. But brethren, I am here to tell you that she listens to us still. For the OldMother heard the lamentations of PackHome; she saw the hungry pups, she smelled the unburied dead. The OldMother’s heart was moved, and in our darkest hour she sent us her sign and her help, and the name was SilverSides. “

LifeCrier’s voice dropped to a whisper. Remarkably, the crowd fell silent to listen. For a moment all WhiteTail heard was the wind rustling the leaves of the whitetrees and the distant call of a lonely bluecrest.

“I was there. oh my brethren,” LifeCrier whispered. “You and I, we were born from our mothers. But the mother of SilverSides is the OldMother, who lives in the sky, and SilverSides was born from a fiery star. These old eyes saw her come down from the sky, trailing flame and glory.

“She was as a cub, but she was formed fully grown. As soon as she could move, she felled a mighty sharpfang with one bite. ” LifeCrier looked around the clearing, gauging his audience’s disbelief. “With one bite, brethren. Even before she could speak, she saved an entire hunting pack. And when she could at last speak, did she challenge KeenEye for the leadership of the hunt, as was her right under the law of the FirstBeast?

“No. She said, ‘I am here to serve you. ’ “

He paused to let that thought sink in and catch his breath. After a few quick pants, he resumed speaking in his normal voice. “That is the first lesson, O members of the Great Pack. She accomplished great things; she fought with valor. But all these things she did to serve the pack.

“She hunted with the pack, and she was a mighty hunter. She led us against the WalkingStones, and drove them back in defeat. ” He leapt to his hind feet and held his amulet high. The sunlight twinkled and flashed on the broken circuit board. “This is the token she gave me, to remind me of my faith. It is a piece of the brain of a WalkingStone, and it does not decay!”

LifeCrier flashed the amulet around so all could see it. When the wondrous gasps had settled down, he hung the amulet around his neck again and dropped down to all fours. “That was just one of her miracles. There were many more, and in time I will tell you about them. But for now-for you who are taking your first trots down the path of faith-I leave you with these four promises, which she gave unto me. Let these be the four legs upon which your faith stands:

“SilverSides will protect us.

“SilverSides will serve us.

“SilverSides came once, to awaken us.

“SilverSides will come again, to lead us back to the Forest of Dawn. ”

Abruptly, LifeCrier turned and began descending from the rocky knoll. The crowd exploded in a tumult of barking and howling. Shouts of “Praise LifeCrier!” went up from one side of the clearing, and “Praise SilverSides!” from the other. A small fight started in the back when someone tried to shout “Praise the OldMother!” and the younglings in the front were swept aside by a mob of converts rushing forward to touch the fur of LifeCrier.

Unnoticed in all the noise and confusion, WhiteTail carefully worked her way around to the back side of the knoll. She paused only a moment, to think, I sure hope I know what I ’ m doing. Then in one quick dash she scampered to the top of the knoll and let rip with her best blood-curdling shriek.

Amazingly, the rabble all froze and stared at her.

Here goes nothing.WhiteTail flashed a wide, joyous, utterly fraudulent smile, whipped her tail excitedly, and barked out, “Hear me! I am WhiteTail, daughter of LifeCrier!”

“Praise LifeCrier!” the scruffy one near the front shouted.

She beamed at the crowd again. Whatever you do, girl, don ’ t make eye contact with your father. “LifeCrier has asked me to make an announcement. ” She felt the fur on the back of her head prickle and knew that her father was staring at her. She could easily visualize his baffled expression as he tried to figure out what she was up to this time, and she started to glance in his direction. Don ’ t look at him!

“In honor of this happy occasion,” WhiteTail barked, “LifeCrier wishes it known that he himself will lead the first hunt of the Great Pack! He goes to the forest now; all who would truly follow in the footsteps of SilverSides, follow LifeCrier!” The pack erupted in a maelstrom of baying and hunting howls and surged forward to engulf LifeCrier.

Now, girl.Now you can look at him. WhiteTail picked her father’s face out of the mob at the foot of the knoll. For an instant he looked back at her with daggers flashing in his eyes, and then he was swept away by the furry tide that streamed out into the forest. Okay, Father, WhiteTail thought with a snicker, let ’ s see you wriggle your way out of this one. Bounding down from the knoll, she blended into the crowd and followed.

All her efforts were concentrated on keeping track of her father. She never noticed the small, green observation robot that drifted along at treetop level, following her.

Dr. Anastasi charged up the slidewalk from the tunnel transit stop, pinwheeled through a lobby, and caught the next flight of slidewalk. “Look at this, Basalom. Have you ever seen such conspicuous waste before?”

The First and Second Laws of Robotics prevented him from responding with an untruth, but Basalom deduced from experience that his mistress did not want a completely truthful answer. He kept his silence as he strode a respectful three paces behind her, but he carried on an internal dialogue. Actually, Dr. Anastasi, we ’ ve both seen something exactly like this. Or have you forgotten the C eremyons already?

Dr. Anastasi rapped her knuckles on a ceiling support beam as the slidewalk rose up through the next floor. “Good grief. Iron. Chrome steel. Petrochemical plastics. They must have torn down an entire mountain to build this place. ”

“Quite possibly, madam. ” Although in that case the scanning team would have spotted something beyond a little thermal pollution, no?

Dr. Anastasi shook her head. “When I think of all the ecological damage that these things must cause

“I mean, think of it, Basalom. Thousands of hectares of biosphere flattened, graded, and rendered utterly sterile. Entire species displaced. ” She turned around and took in the building with a sweeping gesture. “You know, I think I’ve figured it out. The Robot Cities are fire ant nests. Enormous fire ant nests. ”

The allusion was a bit obscure; it took Basalom almost 30 nanoseconds to cross-reference and make the connection. Fire ant: Solenopsis saevissinul richteri. A fiercely stinging omnivorous ant native to the American continents of Earth, commonly thought responsible for the Great Agricultural Failure of the early 21 st century. See North American History, Populist Rising of 2014.Then he realized that Janet was obviously waiting for him to ask her to explain. “Fire ants, madam?”

“Nasty little brown bugs, native to Earth. Every now and then someone accidentally exports them to a Settler world.