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about using the foundry itself as their getaway vehicle. It was at least as fast as the foot-fin.
    But the fact that there was nobody in here made him uneasy. “Surely they’d still want to watch out for lakes or boulders, even if there are no towns nearby,” he shouted over the incessant rumble. “I would have thought a man would be on duty here at all times.”
    “You’d be right,” said a gravelly voice. “—Careful,” it went on as Chaison made to turn, “I’ve got a bead on your head.”
    Slowly, Chaison turned and looked behind him. Fitted into a shadowed corner of the pilot house was half a man; he was missing his legs, and in their place wore some kind of harness. But the wide-barreled scattergun in his hands made any other details unimportant. It was aimed now at the center of Chaison’s chest.
    “Get your two companions in here,” said the man. Chaison could see Darius’s face faintly lit in the doorway. He half-smiled.
    “I don’t actually control them,” he said with a shrug. “If they decide to leave me here with you, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
    “Tempting though that might be, sir, I at least am a man of honor,” said Richard Reiss. He glided into the pilot house with as much dignity as his ragged appearance would allow. A moment later Darius followed.
    “Ha!” The man with the gun edged forward a bit. In the ruddy light of the twin infernos Chaison saw that where his lower legs had once been, now he sprouted a three-foot metal spike, which was strapped to the stubs of his upper thighs. In freefall he would have no need for legs anyway, so Chaison did not make the mistake of assuming that he would be any less maneuverable or strong than the three men he faced. He had a leathery face and as he grinned displayed numerous gaps in his teeth.
    “The secret police are looking for you three,” he said with satisfaction. “Also some other escapees, but three Slipstreamers in particular. Now, lest you think you might be able to take me, you’d better know that I rang the emergency bell before I bundled myself into that corner there. The boys’ll be up any second now to see what the fuss is about.”
    He might have been bluffing. He wasn’t. A few minutes later Chaison and his companions found themselves being shoved into a windowless locker by four sweaty, heavily muscled men. The foundry workers laughed and clapped the pilot on the back, and spat on their new prisoners for good measure before slamming the door shut.
    Richard glared at Chaison. “Now was this a wise course of—”
    “Shut up!” snapped Darius. “We had to try.”
    Chaison ran his hands over the back wall of the locker, looking for weak planks. “We have to keep thinking,” he said. The workers had taken their two swords and Richard’s baton. Without some means of locomotion, they were stranded here even if they did get the weapons back. “Did you spot any boats on the way in here?”
    “Two,” said Darius. He cocked his head. “I think I hear one of them leaving right now.”
    “Off to fetch our jailers,” said Richard. “Wonderful! A short holiday this has turned out to be.”
    This made Chaison laugh. “Would you rather have spent the day in your cell? Pardon me for interrupting your valuable routine.”
    “It’s not that,” said the former ambassador sullenly. “It’s just that…”
    “What?”
    Richard looked uncomfortable. “They’re bound to punish us for this,” he said, almost inaudibly.
    “Don’t get all schoolyard girly on us,” Darius shot back.
    “I haven’t seen Richard act the coward yet,” said Chaison. “Seems to me he has a healthy sense of caution, and there’s no shame in fearing a beating. The question is whether that fear stops you from acting.”
    “He didn’t want to come here,” Darius pointed out.
    “Well, he was right, wasn’t he? It was my call, Darius.”
    Darius had no answer to that.
    They passed the next hour in silence. The locker was small