Strata

can stuff the disc. It’s just a toy, a nasty toy. But this is something worth having.’
    ‘Right. Let’s find Marco.’
    They found him inside the stone building that dominated the village. At one end of it was a square tower, but he was standing like a statue in the gloom of the main hall. He turned as they came in, and in two of his hands were a pair of long candlesticks.
    ‘What’s this place?’ asked Kin, staring up into the shadowy roof.
    ‘A house of religion, I think,’ said the kung. ‘I was considering investigating the tower. There appears to be a stairway inside.’ He was unnaturally cheerful, and looked at her in an odd way.
    ‘The view from the top should be extensive. We could plan the rest of the day’s flight without putting a further drain on the belts’ batteries.’
    ‘But the belts are perfectly—’ Kin began, andstopped. Marco was semaphoring wildly with his two free arms.
    ‘We must conserve our power!’ Echoes bounced back from the depths of the building. He looked at Kin and pressed a finger to his lips for silence.
    ‘Stay here, Silver,’ he said. ‘I want to show Kin this carving.’
    But when she went to step forward he pressed her back with one hand and walked away alone. He moved the two candlesticks expertly. It sounded as though two people were walking across the floor.
    He’s going really mad this time, Kin thought. Silver was smiling to herself.
    Marco came back. ‘Now let’s all go up the tower,’ he said. ‘This way, folks.’ He handed the sticks to Kin and pointed to the further end of the hall, then soft-footed it towards the open door. They saw him flatten himself against the wall.
    ‘Well, let’s go,’ said Kin weakly, and started swinging the sticks. There was some difficulty in getting Silver up the winding staircase at the far end, and Kin felt a real fool helping two sticks to climb stairs.
    ‘Learned something very interesting about the demon, Marco,’ said Silver. Then she replied in a remarkable impersonation of a kung: ‘What was that, Silver? Well, you know matter transmission has been tried and doesn’t work? Well, it doeson the disc. How do you mean? Kin noticed it.
    Tell him, Kin.’
    I’d better join in, she decided, otherwise they’ll think I’m nuts … What do I mean, they ?
    ‘The Company put a lot of research into straight matter transmission,’ she said. ‘In theory it ought to work, it’s a logical extension of strata machine or dumbwaiter operation. Trouble is, it takes power. Far too much. And the best anyone managed was a two-millisecond displacement, then the subject just snapped back to the here .’
    ‘Aye, I heard about that,’ said Silver in Marco’s voice. ‘The continuum is very anti sneaky stuff like matter transmission. Starhopping it has to put up with because we go through the Elsewhere, but straight teleportation is like trying to throw away a ball that’s tied to your hand by elastic.’
    ‘Yes, there seems to be rules that say you stick to your predestined space-time point.’
    ‘What’s that got to do with the demon?’
    ‘He’s transmitted. Something transmits him out maybe a hundred times a second, just as fast as the continuum snaps him back. That’s how he can fly. They just move the focus of the transmitters. He’s here, he can see and hear and touch, but he’s not here . I don’t know why he stays tied up,’ she added as an afterthought. ‘They could move him outside the ropes.’
    ‘Then the sooner we get back—’
    There was a scream.
    When they arrived breathless at the doorway Marco was standing with all four hands clasped around a bundle of black feathers. Two small shining eyes watched them intently.
    ‘It just sauntered in through the door,’ said the kung.
    ‘What was all the business with the candlesticks?’ said Kin. Silver snorted.
    ‘Marco deduced the creature must have phenomenal sound detection apparatus,’ she said. ‘It seemed logical that if it heard three of us climbing the tower—’
    ‘It’s far too heavy for a bird,’ said Marco. ‘It must be a machine. Now we can talk to the disc controllers and explain—’
    The raven turned its head one hundred and eighty degrees. Marco’s mouth closed like a clam.
    Quoth the raven: ‘You’re the bastard that dumped me in vacuum. You’re going to find out what happens to people who don’t act respectful to one of the Eyes of God.’
    Marco’s mouth opened and shut.
    ‘Heaven help your hands if