There were two hundred at least, Lin estimated. She moved a little closer to Isaac nervously. The garuda averaged at least a couple of inches over six feet, not counting the magnificent peaks of their folded wings. There was no difference in height or musculature between men and women. The females wore thin shifts, the males wore loincloths or cut-off trousers. That was all.

Lin stood five feet tall. She could see no further than the first circle of garuda who surrounded her and Isaac at arms’ length, but she could see more and more dropping from the sky; she had the sense of the numbers building up around her. Isaac patted her shoulder absently.

A few shapes still swept and hunted and played in the air around them. When the garuda had stopped landing on the roof, Isaac broke the silence.

“Righto,” he yelled. “Thanks very much for inviting us up here. I want to make a proposition to you.”

“To who?” came a voice from the crowd.

“Well, to all of you,” he replied. “See, I’m doing some work on…well, on flight. And you are the only creatures in New Crobuzon who can fly and have brains in your bonces. Wyrmen aren’t renowned for their conversational skills,” he said jovially. There was no reaction to his joke. He cleared his throat and continued.

“So, anyway…uh…I’m wondering whether any of you would be willing to come and do a couple of days’ work with me, show me some flight, let me take a few prints of your wings…” He took hold of Lin’s hand that contained the camera and waved it around. “Obviously I’ll pay for your time…I’d really appreciate some help…”

“What you doing?” The voice came from one of the garuda in the front row. The others looked to him when he spoke. This, thought Lin, is the boss man.

Isaac looked at him carefully.

“What am I doing? You mean…”

“I mean what for d’you need pics? What you up to?”

“It’s…uh…research into the nature of flight. See, I’m a scientist and…”

“Horsecrap. How we know you don’t kill us?”

Isaac started in surprise. The congregated garuda nodded and cawed in agreement.

“Why by damn would I want to kill you…?”

“Just fuck off, mister. No one here wants to help you.”

There were a few mutterings of unease. It was clear that a few of the assembled might, in fact, have been prepared to take part. But none of them challenged the speaker, a tall garuda with a long scar linking his nipples.

Lin watched as Isaac opened his mouth slowly. He was trying to turn the situation round. She saw his hand go to his pocket and come away again. If he flashed money on the spot, he could seem like a spiv or a wide-boy.

“Listen…” he said hesitantly. “I really didn’t realize there’d be a problem with this…”

“No, well, see, that may or may not be true, mister. Might be you’re militia.” Isaac snorted derisorily, but the big garuda continued in his sneering tone. “Might be that the murder squads’ve found a way to get to us bird-boys. ‘Just come along to do research…’ Well, none of us is interested, ta.”

“You know,” said Isaac, “I understand that you’re concerned at my motives. I mean, you don’t know me from Jabber and…”

“Ain’t none of us going with you, mister. Simple.”

“Look. I can pay well. I’m prepared to pay a shekel a day for anyone prepared to come to my lab.”

The big garuda stepped forward and prodded Isaac aggressively in the chest.

“Want us to come to your lab to cut us open, see what makes us tick?” The other garuda stepped back as he circled Lin and Isaac. “You and your bugger friend want to cut me into pieces?”

Isaac was expostulating and trying to deny the charge. He turned slightly away and looked over at the surrounding crowd.

“So am I to understand that this gent speaks for all of you, or would someone here like to earn a shekel a day?”

There were a few mutterings. Garuda looked shiftily and uneasily at each other. The big garuda facing Isaac threw up his hands and shook them as he spoke. He was incensed.

“I speak for all!” He turned and stared slowly at his kin. “Any dissenters?”

There was a pause, and a young male stepped forward slightly.

“Charlie…” He spoke directly to the self-appointed leader. “Shekel’s a lot of moolah…what say a bunch of us go down, make sure there’s no monkey-business, keep it sweet…”

The garuda called Charlie strode over as the other male was speaking and punched him hard in the face.

There was a communal shriek from the congregation. With a tumult of wings and feathers, great numbers of the garuda burst up and out from the roof like an explosion. Some circled briefly and returned to watch warily, but many others disappeared into the upper floors of other blocks, or off into the cloudless sky.

Charlie stood over his stunned victim, who had fallen to one knee.

“Who’s the big man?” shouted Charlie in a strident bird-call. “Who’s the big man?”

Lin tugged at Isaac’s shirt, began to pull him towards the stairwell door. Isaac resisted half-heartedly. He was visibly appalled at the turn his request had taken, but he was also fascinated to see the confrontation. She dragged him slowly away from the scene.

The fallen garuda looked up at Charlie.

“You the big man,” he muttered.

“I’m the big man. I’m the big man ‘cause I take care of you, right? I make sure you’re all right, don’t I? Don’t I? And what’d I always tell you? Steer clear of groundcrawlers! And steer clearest of the anthros. They’re the worst, they’ll tear you up, take your wings away, kill you dead! Don’t trust any of ‘em! And that includes fatboy with the fat wallet over there.” For the first time in his tirade he looked up at Isaac and Lin. “You!” he shouted, and pointed at Isaac. “Fuck off out of it ‘fore I show you exactly what it’s like to fly…straight fucking down!”

Lin saw Isaac open his mouth, attempt one last conciliatory explanation. She stamped in irritation and pulled him hard through the door.

Learn to read a damned situation, Isaac. Time to go, Lin signed furiously as they descended.

“All right Lin, Jabber’s arse, I get the idea!” He was angry, stamping his great bulk down the stairs without any complaints this time. He was energized by his blistering irritation and bewilderment.

“I just don’t see,” he continued, “why they were so fucking antagonistic…”

Lin turned to him in exasperation. She made him stop, would not let him pass.

Because they’re xenian and poor and scared, you cretin, she signed slowly. Big fat bastard waving money comes to Spatters, for Jabber’s sake, not much of a haven but all they’ve got, and starts trying to get them to leave it for reasons he won’t explain. Seems to me that Charlie’s bang-on right. Place like this needs someone to look after its own. If I was garuda, I’d listen to him, I tell you.

Isaac was calming down, even looking a little shamed.

“Fair enough, Lin. I take your point. I should’ve scouted it out first, gone through someone who knows the area or whatever…”

Yes, and you’ve blown that now. You can’t, it’s too late…

“Yes, quite, thanks ever so for pointing that out…” He scowled. “Godspit fuck damn! I ballsed it up, didn’t I?”

Lin said nothing.

They did not speak much as they returned through Spatters. They were watched from bottle-glass windows and open doors as they came back the way they’d come.

As they retraced their paths over the foul pit of nightsoil and rot, Lin glanced back at the tumbledown towers. She saw the flat roof where they had stood.

Isaac and she were being followed by a small swirling mass of garuda youth, sullenly trailing them in the sky. Isaac turned and his face lightened briefly, but the garuda did not come close enough to talk. They gesticulated rudely from on high.