Functional, artistic, and-by all generally accepted technologyimpossible.

This was, Tories reflected, a pretty fair description of Spaarti Creations itself.

"The Cranscoc don't want people or vehicles on the strip of grassland between the plant and Foulahn City," Binalie explained to Doriana as the landspeeder slid silently down the tunnel.

"They say it upsets them, though we don't know how or why.

Hence, this tunnel."

"What about the other employees?" Doriana asked. 'The non-Cranscoc ones.

How do they get to work?"

"Most of them live on-site," Binalie said. 'There's a group apartment cluster along the eastern edge of the plant, between the main building and Outlink One, for the unmarried workers.

The Cranscoc have a cluster of homes north of the plant, between Outlinks One and Two, while the non-Cranscoc families live in their own cluster to the north-west, between Outlinks Two and Three."

"And how do all of them get to work?" Doriana persisted. "More tunnels like this one?"

"There are tunnels leading between the main plant and the Outlinks,"

Binalie said. "But those are mainly for cargo and equipment transfer. The workers usually just walk across the lawns to work."

He smiled slightly at Doriana's puzzled look. "I know.

Apparently, it's only this one strip of land the Cranscoc insist be left completely open. Again, no one knows why."

The tunnel floor began to slope upward, and Tories found himself surreptitiously watching Doriana. The first time he'd taken this trip, he'd naturally expected the tunnel to deposit them into some sort of receiving area, and could still remember his shock when they'd arrived smack in the middle of one of the production areas. It might be instructive to see whether Doriana would also be taken by surprise.