Strata

you’re still holding me in five seconds,’ the bird added conversationally. ‘Four, three, two—’ A thin wisp of smoke escaped from the feathers.
    ‘Marco!’
    His hands jerked back. The raven stayed in mid-air, balanced on a thin actinic flame that filled the hall with shadows and set the flagstone below cracking like springtime ice.
    Then it wasn’t there. Kin had just enough sense to throw herself backwards as pieces of roof rained down. They looked up at the ragged hole, far above, and heard the cry:
    ‘
You’ll be sorreeee!’
    ‘Talk,’ suggested Marco.
    ‘ I PLEAD .’
    ‘Who runs the disc? Where are they? How may we contact them? We shall require adequate directions and a detailed assessment of probable risks.’
    Kin stepped forward and smiled reassuringly at the tethered giant. ‘Where did you come from, Sphandor?’ she said.
    ‘I HAVE ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD THAT A DOG WITH STOMACH GRIPES PAUSED NEAR A LOG AND THE SUN HATCHED ME OUT, LADY. DO NOT LET HIM NEAR ME! I CAN SEE HIS THOUGHTS AND —’
    ‘I won’t let him hurt you—’
    ‘Oh yes? Just how?’ Marco began angrily. Two of his hands were heavily bandaged.
    ‘There is an island at the hub of the disc,’ said Kin sweetly, ignoring the interruption. ‘Tell me about it.’
    ‘GREAT LADY, GREAT BEASTS ROAM THERE OR SO IT IS SAID. NONE OF US MAY GO THERE ON PAIN OF – OF —’
    ‘Of what?’
    ‘ AGONY, LADY. PAIN. THE WORLD DISAPPEARS,AND THEN ONE IS IN A NEW PLACE AND THERE IS AGONY .’
    ‘But you have attempted to go there?’
    ‘ THERE IS NOTHING THERE BUT BLACK SAND, LADY, AND THE BONES OF SHIPS, AND IN THE CENTRE A DOME OF COPPER, AND TERRIBLE ENGINES! THEY CANNOT BE TRICKED !’
    Kin kept trying for another ten minutes, then gave up.
    ‘I believe him,’ she said, joining the others and dialling for coffee.
    ‘He’s manifestly a product of complex technology,’ said Marco.
    ‘Yah, but he
thinks
he’s a demon. What am I supposed to do? Argue?’
    ‘If I chopped a foot off perhaps he would think differently?’ said Marco, reaching for a knife.
    ‘No,’ said Silver, drumming her fingers on the dumbwaiter’s dome. ‘No. I think not. Marco, we must assume that the disc builders tend to think like human beings, and humans set great store by mercy and fair play, at least when it does not conflict with their interests. Let us therefore set the creature free, thus demonstrating our moral superiority. The action will declare us to be merciful and civilized. In any case,’ she added, and they instinctively looked up for ravens as she lowered her voice, ‘I fail to see any further use in him.’
    Kin nodded. Silver walked and pulled at theknots in the cable and let it fall away. Sphandor stood up, looked at them solemnly, and walked out into the light.
    He raised a cloud of dust as he took off, jerking upwards like a man heron, and hovered fifteen metres up.
    ‘ ZAIGONEN TRYON (TFGKI) BERIGO HURSHIM !’
    ‘So much for gratitude,’ said Silver.
    ‘You understand the language?’ said Kin.
    ‘No, but I think I got the drift of that.’
    ‘ ASFALAGO TEGERAM! NEMA! DWOLAH NARMA! WHERE ARE YOU, SOIGNATORIE, USORE, DILAPI-DATOR – NOOOOOOOO —’
    For an instant the demon was a black cloud that filled the sky, a fog of flickering, fuzzy images – each one staring in terror. Then he was gone. There was a
thump
of inrushing air.
    They flew higher and fast over forests flattened by the falling ship. The smoke column was thinning, but now they were within miles of it the sky was all smoke.
    Marco aimed directly at it, daring it to contain enemies. Ahead of Kin, his suit glittered like a silver spark against the darkness.
    Once inside, Kin was surprised that she could still see. It might have been better if she could not. Between billows was the landscape of hell.
    After five minutes inside the smoke Marco spoke.
    ‘I don’t understand it,’ he said. ‘There’s no radiation. There
shouldn’t
be. But there’s far too much damage. Silver?’
    Below them a drunken forest burned. Before the shand answered the ground below them disappeared abruptly, as if there had been a cliff.
    ‘I can see nothing in this gloom,’ said Silver. ‘Can you?’
    Marco could. Kung eyes had better night vision. He swore, and slowed his suit. The others did the same, drifting together so that the suits bobbed as in trio in the smoke. Marco was still staring down.
    ‘I don’t believe it,’ he said softly. ‘Let’s go