Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks Page B

was there, bigger than they’d been expecting, the size of a domestic chiller cabinet. We’ll never get this onto the flyer. Not with us at the same time.
    â€œHey, Given? Help me get this off. Come on. It might help.” Somebody laughing.
    Get this off. Never get this back. The flyer. And she’d been right. Two of the Navy people went with the thing. They’d never get off. Never. Was that Worosei? She’d just wiped his face, he could have sworn. He struggled to call her back, to say anything.
    â€œWhat’s he saying?”.
    â€œNo idea. Who cares?”.
    One arm was very sore. Left arm or right arm? He was angry at himself for not being able to tell which. How absurd. Ow ow ow. Worosei, why … ?
    â€œYou trying to tear it off?”.
    â€œJust the glove. Must come off. He’ll have rings or stuff. They always do.”
    Worosei murmured something in his ear. He’d fallen asleep. She’d just gone. Worosei! he tried to say.
    The Invisibles came, with heavy weaponry. They must have a ship, probably escorted. The
Winter Storm
would try to stay hidden, then. They were on their own. Waiting for the flyer to return for them. Then the discovery, attack, and losing them all. Madness, flashes and explosions all over as the Loyalist side shelled and counter-attacked from who-knew-where away. They ran out into the rain; the building behind them burned and slumped and fell, turned to glowing slag by the energy weapons. It was night by then and they were alone.
    â€œLeave him alone!”.
    â€œWe just—”.
    â€œYou just do as you’re fucking told or I’ll drop you on the fucking road, understand? If he lives we’re going to ransom him. Even dead he’s worth more than you two brain-dead fuckwits, so make sure he’s alive when we get to Golse or you’ll be following him to heaven.”
    â€œMake sure he’s alive? Look at him! He’ll be lucky if he lasts the night!”.
    â€œWell, if we pick up any medics less fucked up than he is, we’ll make sure they deal with him first. In the meantime; you do it. Here. Medpac. I’ll see you get extra rations if he lives. Oh, and there’s nothing worth taking.”
    â€œHey! Hey, we want a cut in the ransom! Hey!”.
    They’d dived into the crater, sliding and falling. Abig explosion had punched them half into the mud. Killed them if they hadn’t been suited up. Something whacked into his helmet, sending the speakers crazy and filling the visor with blinding light. He pulled the helmet off; it rolled into the pool of water in the foot of the crater. More explosions. Stuck, jammed into the mud.
    â€œGiven, you’re just a heap of fucking trouble, you know that?”.
    â€œWhat’s this do?”.
    â€œFuck knows.”
    The land destroyer, turretless, trailing smoke and leaving one wide segmented track unravelled on the slope behind it, ground and skidded and rumbled its way into the crater. Worosei had recovered first, hauling herself out of the ooze. She tried to pull him free, then fell back as the machine rolled down on top of him. He screamed as the huge weight pressed him into the ground and his legs caught against something hard, breaking bones, pinning him.
    He saw the flyer leave, taking her to the ship, to safety. The sky was full of flashes, his ears were pounded by the concussions. The land destroyer shook the ground as its munitions detonated, each pulse making him cry out. Rain lashed down, soaking his face and fur, hiding his tears. The water in the crater was rising, offering an alternative way to die, until another explosion in the burning machine hammered the ground, and air blew out of the center of the filthy pool and it all frothed and drained away into a deep tunnel. That side of the crater collapsed into it as well, and the land destroyer’s nose tipped down, its rear went up and it pivoted off him, thundering downinto the steam of the