Title:Look to Windward
Author(s): Iain M. Banks
Publisher(s): Pocket Books
Pages: 384
Year: 2010
Format:MOBI
Language: English
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They had hit a slightly wider part of the now steeply descending passage when the wind soughing past them from ahead suddenly picked up and became a gale. The two raptor scouts in front of Uagen, their folded wings acting like sails in the howling torrent of air, tried to wedge themselves against the rippling, buckling walls. They began to slide back towards him while Uagen also tried to brace himself against the damp tissues of the tube. $prime;Oh,$prime; 974 Praf said matter-of-factly from behind and below Uagen. $prime;This development is not an indication of good.$prime; $prime;Help!$prime; Uagen screamed, watching the two raptor scouts, both still desperately clutching at the passage$prime;s walls, slide closer towards him. He tried to make an X of himself, but the walls were now too far apart. $prime;Down here,$prime; Interpreter 974 Praf said. Uagen looked down between his feet. 974 Praf was holding onto the ribbed floor, flattened against it as best she could. He looked up as the nearest raptor scout skidded to within touching distance. $prime;Good idea!$prime; he gasped. He dived. His forehead bounced off the heel spur of the raptor scout. He grabbed at the ribs on the floor as both the raptor scouts slid over him. The wind howled and tugged at his suit, then faded away. He untangled himself from 974 Praf and looked back. A painful-looking tangle of beaks, wings and limbs, the two raptor scouts were wedged further up in the passage with the one which had been bringing up the rear, in the narrow part they had recently forced their way through. One of the winged creatures clacked something. 974 Praf clacked back, then jerked to her feet and scuttled down the passage. $prime;It is the case that the raptor scouts of the Yoleus will try to remain wedged there and so block the conflagration-feeding wind while we complete the journey which we make to the outside of the Sansemin. This way, Uagen Zlepe, scholar.$prime; He stared after her retreating back, then scrambled after her. He was getting an odd feeling in his stomach. He tried to place it, then realised. It was like being in an inertia-subject lift or craft. $prime;Are we sinking?$prime; he said, whimpering. $prime;The Sansemin would appear to be losing height rapidly,$prime; 974 Praf said, bouncing from rib to rib down the steeply pitched floor ahead of him. $prime;Oh, shit.$prime; Uagen looked back. They were round a bend and out of sight of the raptor scouts. The passage dipped still further; it was now like descending a steeply pitched flight of stairs. $prime;Ah ha,$prime; the Interpreter said, as the wind tugged at them again. Uagen felt his eyes widen. He stared ahead. $prime;Light!$prime; he screamed. $prime;Light! Praf! I can see … $prime; His voice trailed away. $prime;Fire,$prime; the Interpreter said. $prime;Down on the floor, Uagen Zlepe, scholar.$prime; Uagen turned and flung himself to the steps a moment before the fireball hit. He had time to take one deep breath and try to bury his face in his arms. He felt 974 Praf on top of him, wings extended, covering him. The blast of heat and light lasted a couple of seconds. $prime;Up again,$prime; the Interpreter said. $prime;You first.$prime; $prime;You$prime;re on fire!$prime; he yelled as she pushed him with her wings and he stumbled down the steps of ribs. $prime;This is the case,$prime; the Interpreter said. Smoke and flames curled behind her wings as she prodded and pushed Uagen downwards. The wind was growing stronger and stronger; he had to fight against it to make any headway, forcibly walking down the ribbed side of the now almost vertical shaft as though they were somehow back on the level. Looking ahead, Uagen could see light again. He groaned, then saw that it was blue-white, not yellow this time. $prime;We approach the outside,$prime; 974 Praf gasped. They dropped from the belly of the dying behemothaur, falling not much faster than what was left of the vast creature itself as it burned and disintegrated and collapsed and descended all at once. Uagen held 974 Praf to him, smothering the flames eating at her wings, then used his ankle motors and balloon cape to halt their fall, and after an eternity of falling amongst flaming, fluttering wreckage and injured animals, brought the two of them round from underneath the massive, V-shaped ruin that was the dying behemothaur, into clear air space where the remains of the Yoleus$prime; expeditionary force of raptor scouts found them moments before an ogrine disseisor could swoop in to swallow them whole. The dazed, silent Interpreter shivered in his arms, the smell of her burned flesh filling his nose as they rose slowly with the raptor scout troupe back to the dirigible behemothaur Yoleus.
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