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upward.
    This was all very interesting, but Ariin wondered once more if the floor raised because of machinery or because it moved of its own accord. Why would technicians be needed to maintain and repair an organism that could change its shape at will?
    “Beauty!” the head tech said as the floor rose, the heavenly bodies shrinking as they swirled, appearing to recede. When Ariin extended her toe again, it touched what seemed to be solid marble.
    “This place has really come along, I tell you,” the tech whispered to his companion. “A few years ago we’d never have got it to do all this. I remember when it was nothing but a starter blob. Most unpromising thing you’d ever hope to see.”
    “Except another starter blob,” mumbled a lower-echelon tech who was less impressed than his superior with the fluctuating environment under their—care? Tutelage? What was their role here? Obliging Ariin’s mental nudge, the fellow said, “It’s about time we started some more. It’s getting quite boring, isn’t it, coddling these as they go through their paces, correcting their corners, getting them to resculpt their windows. There’s no challenge with a structure as skillful as this one.”
    “You’re just more interested in the raw modeling than the nuances of refined sculptural training,” one of the other fellows said haughtily.
    “You have to tame them first, or they’ll sculpt you. Don’t forget, I was on that last collection mission. I saw them in their native habitat, before the modifications.”
    “The way I hear it, they are their native habitat.”
    “In the last stage, yes, because they’ve processed everything else, one way or another. Pircifir discovered them by chance and was intrigued. We tracked them to their original planet. Once there, we experimented until we coaxed them into some of the more popular shapes you see throughout the city today.”
    That was it! Ariin wanted to go out onto the dance floor and twirl around a few times herself, she was so excited. The stuff the Friends used for houses had to be the same thing as the aliens that had caused the plague. They fit the description exactly. Now all she had to do was find Pircifir and get him to tell her what modifications he’d made to render the aliens harmless, even helpful. She would be even more of a heroine than Khorii, more than her mother and father, loved and revered not only by their own people but by all people everywhere for subduing the menace. Everybody talked about the bug monster Khleevi her parents had finally caused to destroy each other, but this would be even better.
    The only problem was that she didn’t know this Pircifir, had not met him or even heard of him before, which was odd because if he modified a life-form, he had to have some interest in genetics. Her old quarters were in the genetics lab. Never mind. She would simply use the timer thing and be there when he did it. Then she’d go back to her parents with the solution.
    She dampened her own enthusiasm and tried to draw out the technician who’d actually been on the mission, but he was preoccupied with the stupid ball. She would have to wait and follow him home and work on him there, where the distractions were fewer.

    K horii reluctantly left the herd behind and walked back to the city. It looked very different than it had when she left. It was dressed for the ball, she thought, with twinkling lights outlining graceful domes and curves and sparkling on softly glowing walls and windows. It looked beautiful. One especially elegant structure overlooked the sea, its reflection doubling its grandeur. As Khorii approached, gaudily dressed beings strolled or flew, even swam away from the building, laughing and talking, some continuing their dance steps in the streets. They were incredibly giddy, and she couldn’t imagine why until she was close enough to detect the fragrance of their collective breath. At first she thought they might all have been afflicted