"Alan Dean Foster - Humanx 1 - Midworld" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

was occupied with the mysterious blue thing that had
come crashing down into the forest. Rarely, one of
the greater air-trees would overreach its rootings, or
overgrow its perch, and fall, bringing down creepers
and lesser growths with it. But never had Bom heard
such a smashing and shattering of wood. This thing
had been far heavier than any air-tree. He knew that
by the speed with which it had fallen. And there was
that half familiar, metallic gleam.

His thoughts were not on bis expected triumph as


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he entered the village center. Here, the enormous trunk
of the Home-tree split into a webbing of lesser boles,
forming an interlocking net of wood around a central
open space, before joining and growing together high
above to form once more a single tapering trunk
that rose skyward for another sixty meters. With
vines and plant fibers and animal skins the villagers
had closed off sections of the interweaving trunklets
to form homes and rooms impervious to casual rain
and wind. For food, the Home-tree offered cauliflorous
fruits shaped like gourds, tasting like cranberry, which
sometimes grew within the sealed-off homes them-
selves.

Small scorched places lay within the houses and
beneath the canopy in the central square. These mi-
nute bums did not affect the enormous growth. Each
home also possessed a pit dug into the wood itself.
Here, many times daily, the inhabitants of the tree
offered thanks for its shelter and protection, mixing
their offerings with a mulch of dead, pulpy plants

gathered for the purpose. The mulch also served to
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kill strong odors. When the pits were full they were
cleaned out. The dry residue was thrown over the side
of the Home-tree into the green depths, so that the
pits could be used again. For the tree accepted and
absorbed the offerings with great speed and matchless
efficiency.