Crouching down again to be out of the wind and rain, he told himself that knowledge still remained a tool he could use. The plant must know something that was, perhaps, useless to it, but that could be twisted to a human's advantage.
"What made you come to a place like this to seed?" he asked.
"Twenty nights and days ago, when I first took root here," said the plant, "this land was safe. The signs were good for fair weather. And this place was easy of access from the water. I am not built to travel far on land."
"How would you manage in a storm like this, if you were not rooted down?"
"I would go with the wind until I found shelter," said the plant. "The wind and waves would not harm me then. They hurt only whatever stands firm and opposes them."
"You can't communicate with others of your people from here, can you?" asked Calvin.
"There are none close," said the plant. "Anyway, what could they do?"
"They could get a message to the fisheries station, to get help out here for us."
"What help could help me?" said the plant. "And in any case they could not go against the wind. They would have to be upwind of the station, even to help you."
"We could try it."