winch-tender then might luff and cant to warp his balloon off the side and low, thus minimizing the reverse vector. In worse conditions he could pull the brake cord, wedging the wheels of the dolly against the side of the slot. In conditions worse yet, when the wind roared and howled, he might abandon the idea of progress and drift back down the slot to the nearest station or siding.
Such a windstorm struck the Iridixn over Conceil Cirque: a vast shallow cup lined with snow, the source of the river Mirk. The morning had shown a lavender-pink haze across the south and high in the east a hundred bands of cirrus, through which the three suns dodged and whirled to create shifting zones of pink, white, and blue. Casallo predicted wind, and before long the gusts were upon them. Casallo employed every artifice at his command: luffing, warping high and low; braking, swinging in a great arc, then releasing the brake at a precise instant to eke out a few grudging yards, whereby he hoped to reach a curve in the slot a mile ahead. Three hundred yards short of his goal the wind struck with such force as to set the frame of the Iridixn groaning and creaking. Casallo released the brake, put the Iridixn flat on the wind, and drifted back down the slot.
At Conceil Siding the station gang brought the balloon down and secured it with a net. Casallo and Etzwane rested the night in the station house, secure within a stockade of stone walls and corner towers. Etzwane learned that the Roguskhoi were very much in evidence. The size of the groups had increased remarkably during the last year, the Superintendent reported. "Before we might see twenty or thirty in a group; now they come in bands of two or three hundred, and sometimes they surround the stockade. They attacked only once, when a party of Whearn nuns were forced down by the wind. There wasn't a Roguskhoi in sight; then suddenly three hundred appeared and tried to scale the walls. We were ready for them—the area is sown thick with land mines. We killed at least two- hundred of them, twenty or thirty at a time. The next day we hustled the nuns into a balloon and sent them off, and had no more trouble. Come; I'll show you something:"
At the corner of the stockade a pen had been built from iron wood staves; two small red-bronze creatures peered through the gaps. "We took them last week; they'd been rummaging our garbage. We strung up a net and baited it. Three torc themselves free; we took two. Already they're as strong as men."
Etzwane studied the two imps, who returned a blank stare. Were they human? derived from human stock? organisms new and strange? The questions had been raised many times, with no satisfactory answers. The Roguskhoi bone structure seemed generally that of a man, if somewhat simplified at the foot, wrist, and rib cage. Etzwane asked the Superintendent, "Are they gentle?"
"To the contrary. If you put your finger into the cage, they'll take it off."
"Do they speak, or make any sound?"
"At night they whine and groan; otherwise they remain silent. They seem little more than animals. I suppose they had best be killed, before they contrive some sort of evil."
"No, keep them safe; the Anome will want them studied. Perhaps we can learn how to control them."
The Superintendent dubiously surveyed the two imps. "I suppose anything is possible."
As soon as I return to Garwiy I will send for them, and of course you will benefit from your efforts."
"That is kind of you. I hope I can hold them secure. They grow larger by the day."
"Treat them with kindness, and try to teach them a few words."
"I'll do my best."
Down from the Wildlands drove the Iridixn, and across the splendid forests of Canton Whearn. For a period the wind died completely; to pass the time Etzwane watched forest birds through the binoculars: undulating air-anemones, pale green flickers, black and lavender dragonbirds. . . . Late in the afternoon the wind came in a sudden rush; the Iridixn spun down the
Such a windstorm struck the Iridixn over Conceil Cirque: a vast shallow cup lined with snow, the source of the river Mirk. The morning had shown a lavender-pink haze across the south and high in the east a hundred bands of cirrus, through which the three suns dodged and whirled to create shifting zones of pink, white, and blue. Casallo predicted wind, and before long the gusts were upon them. Casallo employed every artifice at his command: luffing, warping high and low; braking, swinging in a great arc, then releasing the brake at a precise instant to eke out a few grudging yards, whereby he hoped to reach a curve in the slot a mile ahead. Three hundred yards short of his goal the wind struck with such force as to set the frame of the Iridixn groaning and creaking. Casallo released the brake, put the Iridixn flat on the wind, and drifted back down the slot.
At Conceil Siding the station gang brought the balloon down and secured it with a net. Casallo and Etzwane rested the night in the station house, secure within a stockade of stone walls and corner towers. Etzwane learned that the Roguskhoi were very much in evidence. The size of the groups had increased remarkably during the last year, the Superintendent reported. "Before we might see twenty or thirty in a group; now they come in bands of two or three hundred, and sometimes they surround the stockade. They attacked only once, when a party of Whearn nuns were forced down by the wind. There wasn't a Roguskhoi in sight; then suddenly three hundred appeared and tried to scale the walls. We were ready for them—the area is sown thick with land mines. We killed at least two- hundred of them, twenty or thirty at a time. The next day we hustled the nuns into a balloon and sent them off, and had no more trouble. Come; I'll show you something:"
At the corner of the stockade a pen had been built from iron wood staves; two small red-bronze creatures peered through the gaps. "We took them last week; they'd been rummaging our garbage. We strung up a net and baited it. Three torc themselves free; we took two. Already they're as strong as men."
Etzwane studied the two imps, who returned a blank stare. Were they human? derived from human stock? organisms new and strange? The questions had been raised many times, with no satisfactory answers. The Roguskhoi bone structure seemed generally that of a man, if somewhat simplified at the foot, wrist, and rib cage. Etzwane asked the Superintendent, "Are they gentle?"
"To the contrary. If you put your finger into the cage, they'll take it off."
"Do they speak, or make any sound?"
"At night they whine and groan; otherwise they remain silent. They seem little more than animals. I suppose they had best be killed, before they contrive some sort of evil."
"No, keep them safe; the Anome will want them studied. Perhaps we can learn how to control them."
The Superintendent dubiously surveyed the two imps. "I suppose anything is possible."
As soon as I return to Garwiy I will send for them, and of course you will benefit from your efforts."
"That is kind of you. I hope I can hold them secure. They grow larger by the day."
"Treat them with kindness, and try to teach them a few words."
"I'll do my best."
Down from the Wildlands drove the Iridixn, and across the splendid forests of Canton Whearn. For a period the wind died completely; to pass the time Etzwane watched forest birds through the binoculars: undulating air-anemones, pale green flickers, black and lavender dragonbirds. . . . Late in the afternoon the wind came in a sudden rush; the Iridixn spun down the
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