 What do the vines in the forest represent?
By H. B. Fyfe THE TALKATIVE TREE Dang vines! Lack of complete loyalty to the state was likely to result in a siege of treatment that left the subject suitably "re-personalized." The maintenance of a proper viewpoint was a necessity if the Planetary State were to survive the hostile plots of Earth and the latter's decadent colonies. To reach their assigned sector, they had to climb a forbidding ridge of rock within half a kilometer. Only a sparse creeper grew along their way, its elongated leaves shimmering with bronze-green reflections against a stony surface; but when they topped the ridge a thick forest was in sight. They marched down into the valley at a brisk pace, becoming more aware of the clouds and atmospheric haze. For all Kolin could tell, he and the others were isolated in a world bounded by the rocky ridge behind them and a semi-circle of damp trees and bushes several hundred meters away. Low creepers became more plentiful, interspersed with scrubby thickets of tangled, spike-armored bushes. Once, a shrub puffed out an enormous cloud of tiny spores. Yrtok paused to examine some purple berries glistening dangerously on a low shrub. As he reached her, whatever Yrtok was examining came to life and scooted into the underbrush with a flash of greenish fur. Soaring thirty or forty meters into the thin fog and dwarfing other growth, it seemed the most promising choice. At first, Kolin saw no way, but then the network of vines clinging to the rugged trunk suggested a route.
 The nature of rampant colonialism
 The nature of rampant colonialism  The possibility to be who one wishes to be  The destructive power of nature  The lower end of social strata