mind--some little planet. I don't bother with
them all, since I came here and found out I could be anything I wanted."

"What do you mean, anything you wanted?" asked Kolin, testing the
firmness of a vertical vine.

* * * * *

"Just what I said," continued the voice, sounding closer in his ear as
his cheek brushed the ridged bark of the tree trunk. "And, if I do have
to remind you, it would be nicer if you said 'Mr. Ashlew,' considering
my age."

"Your age? How old--?"

"Can't really count it in Earth years any more. Lost track. I always
figured bein' a tree was a nice, peaceful life; and when I remembered
how long some of them live, that settled it. Sonny, this world ain't
all it looks like."

"It isn't, Mr. Ashlew?" asked Kolin, twisting about in an effort to see
what the higher branches might hide.

"Nope. Most everything here is run by the Life--that is, by the thing
that first grew big enough to do some thinking, and set its roots down
all 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 others
from the _Arcturan Spark_, the planet looked pretty empty to me, just
like it must have to--Watch it, there, Boy! If I didn't twist that
branch 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 my
crowd. Landed years later in a ship from some star towards the center of
the galaxy. You should have seen his looks before the Life got in touch
with his mind and set up a mental field to help him change form. He
looks 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 the
Life's mental field helping. Guess he started living with a different
way of thinking. It burns me. I thought of being a tree, and then he
came 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 ought
to 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 and
see things