The Last Hero

Stibbons."
    "Please take careful observations of all —" Ponder began, but Leonard had politely closed the case.
    "Now then," he said, "if you gentlemen will undo the clips beside you and turn the large red handles you should be able to start the process of folding the wings back in. I believe that as we increase speed the impellers will make the process easier." He looked at Rincewind's blank face as the angry wizard freed himself from his hat. "We will use the rushing air as we fall to help us reduce the size of the wings, which we will not require for a while."
    "I understand that," said Rincewind distantly. "I just hate it."
    "The only way home is down, Rincewind," said Carrot, adjusting his seat belt. "And put your helmet on!"
    "So if everyone would once again hold tight?" said Leonard, and pushed gently on a lever. "Don't look so worried, Rincewind. Think of it as a sort of... well, a magic carpet ride..."
    The Kite shuddered.
    And dived...
    And suddenly the Rimfall was under them, stretching to an infinite misty horizon, its rocky outcrops now islands in a white wall.
    The ship shook again, and the handle Rincewind had been leaning on started to move under its own power.
    There was no solid surface any more. Every piece of the ship was vibrating.
    He stared out of the porthole next to him. The wings, the precious wings, the things that kept you up , were folding gracefully in on themselves...
    "Rrincewwind," said Leonard, a blur in his seat, "pplease ppull the bblack lleverr!"
    The wizard did so, on the basis that it couldn't make things worse.
    But it did. He heard a series of thumps behind him. Five score of dragons, having recently digested a hydrocarbon-rich meal, saw their own reflections in front of them as a rack of mirrors was, for a moment, lowered in front of their cages.
    They flared.
    Something crashed and smashed, back in the fuselage. A giant foot pressed the crew back into their seats. The Rimfall blurred. Through red-rimmed eyes they stared at the speeding white sea and the distant stars and even Carrot joined in the hymn of terror, which goes:
    "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhggggggg..."
    Leonard was trying to shout something. With terrible effort Rincewind turned his huge and heavy head and just made out the groan: "Ttthe wwwhite lllever!"
    It took him years to reach it. For some reason his arms had been made out of lead. Bloodless fingers with muscles weak as string managed to get a grip and tow the lever back.
    Another foreboding thump rattled the ship. The pressure ceased. Three heads thumped forward.
    And then there was silence. And lightness. And peace.
    Dreamily, Rincewind pulled down the periscope and saw the huge fish section curving gently away from them. It came apart as it flew, and more dragons spread their wings and whirled away behind the Kite . Magnificent. A device for seeing behind you without slowing down? Just the thing no coward should be without.
    "I've got to get one of these," he murmured.
    "That seemed to go quite well, I thought," said Leonard. "I'm sure the little creatures will get back, too. Flitting from rock to rock... yes, I'm sure they will..."
    "Er... there's a strong draught by my seat —" Carrot began.
    "Ah, yes... it would be a good idea to keep the helmets handy," Leonard said. "I've done my best, varnishing and laminating and so forth... but the Kite is not, alas, completely airtight. Well, here we are, well on our way," he added brightly. "Breakfast, anyone?"
    "My stomach feels very —" Rincewind began, but stopped.
    A spoon drifted past, tumbling gently.
    "What has switched off the down-ness?" he demanded.
    Leonard opened his mouth to say: No, this was expected, because everything is falling at the same speed, but he didn't, because he could see this was not a happy thing to say.
    "It's the sort of thing that happens," he said. "It's... er... magic."
    "Oh. Really? Oh."
    A cup bumped gently off Carrot's ear. He batted it away and it disappeared somewhere aft.
    "What kind of magic?" he said.
    The wizards were clustered around the piece of omniscope, while Ponder struggled to adjust it.
    A picture exploded into view. It was horrible.
    "Hello? Hello? This is Ankh-Morpork calling!"
    The gibbering face was pushed aside and Leonard's dome rose slowly into view.
    "Ah, yes. Good morning," he said. "We are having a few... teething troubles."
    From somewhere offscreen came the sound of someone being sick.
    " What is going on ?" bellowed Ridcully.
    "Well, you see, it's