Tiaan set her thapter down beside the other. ‘How’s your thapter going?’ Irisis called to Nish. He looked worn out.
‘We’ve put the controller in, and it works, though not very well. I’m worried we won’t get it home. Our pilots aren’t experienced enough to be flying good thapters, much less faulty ones. They won’t know what to do if something goes wrong. Still, things are looking better than they were this morning. How did you get on?’
‘Pretty well, considering. Look at this.’ Irisis took the controller out of her bag. ‘Isn’t it the most beautiful sight you ever saw?’
It was worth all the labour for the look on Nish’s face.
After dinner they put it into another construct, slipped in the flight assembly tailored to Kattiloe, and one of Yggur’s power-storing devices, and the thapter worked straight away. Kattiloe danced a little jig on top of the machine. Chissmoul whirled and ran into the darkness again but this time Flangers followed.
Tiaan and Irisis continued their survey at first light, and among the last of the constructs found two controllers that were not as badly damaged, as if the wrecking work had been abandoned in haste.
‘The crystal in this controller looks all right,’ said Tiaan. ‘It’s chipped, but should still work. Do you think, if we put it in the second controller, it might just be good enough?’
It was, and Chissmoul wept for joy.
‘Three!’ said Nish, who had perked up considerably overnight. ‘Plus your thapter, Tiaan. If only it were five.’
‘You’re getting ideas above your station,’ said Irisis, grinning like a loon. ‘Shall we go home?’
‘Wait a minute,’ said Tiaan. ‘I think I know where we might find another controller. Or even two.’
‘We’ve been through them all now,’ said Irisis. ‘Twice.’
‘As I escaped from Vithis there were several, er, accidents involving constructs.’
‘Accidents?’ said Irisis.
‘I’d prefer not to talk about it,’ Tiaan went on. ‘People died because of what I did. The constructs were wrecked but it’s possible the controllers were left behind. Do you want to come, Nish? It’ll take a fair while.’
‘Let’s get these ones organised first.’
Yggur’s devices were inserted in the other two machines and they were hovered north to the nearest field. Nish then took the devices back, just for luck. He left the three lucky pilots, Kattiloe, Chissmoul and Kimli, practising hovering and low flying under Klarm’s watchful eye, gave orders for everyone to be ready to depart as soon as they returned, and climbed into the thapter after Irisis.
‘Can either of you swim?’ Tiaan said.
‘Not very well,’ said Nish.
‘Like an eel,’ said Irisis. ‘We used to go to the seaside in summer, when I was little.’
‘I’m not much good,’ said Tiaan. She put her head out the hatch. ‘Hoy. Are any of you good swimmers?’
‘I am,’ said Flangers.
‘Do you think your leg’s up to it?’ said Irisis.
‘It works better in the water than on land.’
‘Come on then.’
He limped across and climbed in. Tiaan went south, following the path she’d taken when towing the constructs to the node. At the place where she’d crippled Minis during the accident with the towing cable, Tiaan began to circle.
‘A few constructs were damaged here, though not badly. They may have taken them away.’
‘Looks like it,’ said Irisis, scanning the area with the spyglass.
They found nothing. Nish looked crestfallen.
‘Never mind,’ said Tiaan. ‘I didn’t really expect to find anything here.’
She continued south into Gnulp Forest, on the winding route she’d taken last summer. It wasn’t hard to remember. At the top of a steep hill she stopped and closed her eyes, imagining every detail of that desperate flight, and remembering her state of mind – thinking that she’d killed Minis and blaming herself for it.
‘I was here,’ she said. ‘They came at me up the hill, dozens of constructs led by Vithis. I’ll never know how I escaped.’
‘Nor I,’ said Nish, ‘had I not seen you in action.’
The undergrowth was still battered down in a line along the path of her flight, though autumn growth had begun to cover it up. ‘That’s where I hit a tree.’ She was pointing to a gouge out of the bark, a couple of spans in height. ‘And there’s where Vithis crashed. I was hoping his machine might have been abandoned, but they’ve taken it. On to the next.’
Nish said nothing but his shoulders were beginning to sag again.
Tiaan flew west to the Sea of Thurkad and turned left, following the shoreline south. Some half an hour later she slowed.
‘Somewhere around here they tried to catch me in a net held by five constructs. I know there’s a construct underwater, not far from shore, though I think it’ll be in pieces.’
Gentle waves broke over black rocks and dark sand. Gulls shied away as they approached. It took a long time to find the place, for the shore looked much the same for a league or two. Tiaan had to go inland, locate the trail she’d smashed through the scrub and follow it to the beach.
She stopped at the shoreline. ‘It was just out there. The construct went underwater and blew apart.’ More deaths on her conscience. There had to be a better way of solving people’s problems.
‘Could be hard to find the pieces,’ said Irisis.
‘Go up a fraction,’ Flangers said. ‘The sun’s fairly high. We may able to see through the water.’ He climbed up to the back platform.
The sun wasn’t high enough for them to see much, though occasionally Nish caught glimpses of the bottom, between dark rocks.
‘There it is,’ Flangers called. ‘At least, part of it.’
Tiaan hovered. ‘Looks like it’s in two pieces,’ said Nish.
‘There’s the top section,’ said Irisis. ‘Now for the chilly part.’
Tiaan hovered over the water while Irisis demonstrated to Flangers, with the thapter’s controller, what they were looking for and how to remove it.
‘Is that clear?’ she said. ‘We don’t want to break the controller getting it out.’
Flangers nodded. They stripped off and jumped into the water. Irisis ducked under but soon came up again.
‘What’s it like?’ Nish called.
‘Bloody freezing!’ Her teeth chattered.
‘I meant the construct.’
‘Thanks for your concern, Nish. It’s down two and a half spans, which is fortunate – that’s about as far as I can dive. Couldn’t see if the controller was still there. Ready, Flangers?’
He raised a thumb and went down, legs rising out of the water. Irisis slid straight under.
Nish counted the seconds aloud. At thirty-eight Irisis reappeared. Flangers did not.
‘It’s there,’ she said, ‘and looks to be in one piece, but I can’t hold my breath long enough to get it out.’
Tiaan wasn’t surprised. Removing the controller was a complicated process and she knew she couldn’t have done it underwater.
On one hundred and five, Flangers reappeared. ‘Cold!’ He took three deep breaths and went down again.
‘S’pose I’d better help him,’ said Irisis, pretending nonchalance, and submerged.
After eight dives, Flangers surfaced and trod water. ‘I’ll have to get out. I’m frozen to the core.’
They let down a rope and hauled him up. His skin was blue. ‘Coming, Irisis?’ Nish called.
‘I’ll keep going as long as I can.’
She went under. This time Nish had counted down two minutes and few seconds more, and was about to dive in after her, fully clothed, when Irisis surfaced, blowing like a walrus.
‘Have a rest, Irisis,’ said Tiaan. ‘I’ve got hot soup here.’
‘I’ll have it afterwards. Once I get out I’m not going back in, even for a whole bag of controllers!’
After Flangers had been given a brisk towelling and drunk a mug of hot soup, he felt able to go down again.