Ophion dashed into full daylight at a point slightly north of the western slanted cable, the counterpart of Cirocco's Stairs but leaning in the other direction. The river then turned south and continued in that direction for more than a hundred kilometers. The rapids became less frequent, though the river was still lively. They took it easy, barely paddling in the quiet waters, resting and letting the river's current move them.
Gaby called a halt early when they came to a place she had camped before. She thought it the prettiest site in the Nemesis Range and told everyone they would stay for eight revs, sleep, and then continue on. It seemed agreeable, especially to the Titanides, who planned a decent meal for the first time in several days.
When Chris suggested they try to catch something for the Titanides to cook, Gaby showed him what reeds to cut for fishing poles. Robin showed an interest, so Gaby taught her how to bait a hook and string a line, how to operate the simple wooden reels the Titanides had brought. They moved out into shallow water, smooth stones under their bare feet, and began casting.
"What do you catch around here?" Chris asked.
"What would you take out of a stream like this back home?"
"Trout, probably."
"Then trout it is. I figure we could use about a dozen."
"Are you serious? There are really trout?"
"Not just a Gaean imitation either. A long time ago Gaea thought she wanted to attract tourists. Now she's largely indifferent to them. But she had a lot of streams stocked, and they did well. They get pretty big. Like this one." Her pole was bent into a semicircle. In a few minutes she netted a fish that was larger than any Chris had ever seen, let alone caught.
Robin broke her line with her first bite, then brought in one about the same size. In half an hour they had their quota, but Chris was battling something that felt more like a whale than a trout. Yet when it flashed into the air, it had the familiar lines and colors, the fighting spirit. He played it for twenty minutes and at last could reach down and come up with a fish larger than even Gaby had seen. He looked at it with undisguised delight, then held it up, looking toward the sky.
"How about it, Gaea?" he shouted. "Is this big enough?"
24 The Grotto
For once Chris had actually been able to see the thing. It was just a tiny speck far to the north and high in the air, but it had to be the source of the sustained roar he had heard twice already. He watched it vanish over a mountain, but he could hear it for nearly a minute after that.
"Valiha," he said, "I'm bearing to the left."
"I'm coming right behind you."
Chris steered close to Gaby and Psaltery. He held the side of the other canoe as he stowed his oar, then jumped easily from one to the other. Gaby frowned at him.
"Don't you think it's about time you told us what that is? You did say you'd teach us things we'd need to know."
"I did, didn't I?" She scowled even more but gave in. "I wasn't trying to keep anything from you, really. It's just that I don't even like to talk about them. I-" She looked up in time to see Robin join them.
"Fine. We call 'em buzz bombs. They're new. Very new. I first saw one no more than six or seven years ago. Gaea must have worked on them for a long time because they're so damn unlikely they shouldn't even be alive. They are the nastiest things I ever saw.
"What they are is living airplanes powered by ramjets. Or pulse-jets, possibly. The one I examined was pretty busted up and burned to a crisp. I ordered an old heat-seeking missile from Earth a few years after the first one appeared and shot one down. It was about thirty meters long and definitely organic, though it had a lot of metal in its body. I don't know how; its chemistry must be fantastic, especially when it's being gestated.
"Anyway, I did wonder how it flew. It had wings, and I knew it didn't fly by flapping them. It works like an airplane that uses warpable wings instead of ailerons. It had two legs that folded up in flight. I doubt it could walk very far on them. And it had two fuel bladders that held something that's probably kerosene. Possibly ethanol or a mixture.
"Right away I wondered how it could eat enough to make that kind of fuel in the amounts it would need to be useful for flight. I mean, it was obviously awkward as hell on the ground. On top of that, if it is a ramjet that makes the damn abomination go, it wouldn't dare land anywhere but the top of a cliff or a very tall tree. That engine won't work until it's in motion. So they'd need a thrust assist or a long fall to reach the speed where they could flame on. I didn't know any of this; I had to look it up.
"What I decided was that they didn't make their own fuel. The food they ate went to a more or less normal animal metabolism, and they must get their fuel from some outside source. Or several sources. Most likely it's another new creature, and it's probably in the highlands. I haven't found out where yet."
"Are they dangerous?" Robin asked.
"Very much so. The best thing about them is there aren't many of them. I thought at first they'd have a hard time sneaking up on anybody, but that turns out to be untrue. They cruise at about five hundred kilometers per hour. Even with the engine running they're on you practically before you know it. But they can also flame out at that speed and skim along the surface, then fire up after they've made a kill and before they drop below critical speed. If you see one, try to get in a ditch. They don't come around for a second pass unless the land is as flat as stale beer. You're safe behind a rock, and your chances are improved if you're just stretched out on the ground. They have barbed noses and what they do is impale you and fly off to eat the carcass somewhere else."
"How delightful."
"Ain't it?"
"What do they eat?" Chris asked.
"Anything they can lift."
"Yes, but what is that? Running into something as big as a human might slow them down below their critical speed."
"It turns out they handle humans quite well, thank you. It's a good point, though, and they do favor prey in the forty- to sixty-kilogram range."
"Hey, thanks," Robin snorted. "That's me."
"Me, too, little one. But just think how good the big fella here must feel." She smiled at Chris, who was not feeling that good about it. "Actually, they will attack a full-grown human buck if given the chance and so far have always pulled it off. Seven humans have been killed by them. They will also take on a Titanide, but that's closer to the wishful-thinking category. I know of a dozen cases where Titanides have been carried off, but I've heard of two where the buzz bomb crashed and burned while trying to do it.
"I wouldn't worry about them too much. I cringe when I hear one going over because I hate the things intensely. I did even before one of them took a friend of mine. If I ever find the fuel station, there's going to be one hell of a jolly fire. They are obscene, terrible beasts. They don't attack blimps, but they seem to get a kick out of flying around and around them until the poor things are almost insane with fear, and they've got good reason to be. One blimp was accidentally ignited by the exhaust, and the others are still whistling about that.