...If it went wrong, the end of Cray could follow. And if Tanglanah discovered what was going on, the same. But she had Gaya on her side, even if Aquaitra had assumed the role of Lord Archivist.
Outside, the vitreous street was deserted. They hurried along to a tiny alley called Sand Passage, where Mogyardra spotted a patch of ochre on a wall. There they waited, crouching down in the shadows. With Peppermint Street the thoroughfare from Eastcity directly into the heart of Westcity’s Blistered Quarter, they did not have long to wait. One of the aeromorphs came flying along the street. Subadwan noticed how careful it was to move centrally down the way and not touch anything, and she realised that it knew of the ochre plague.
“Shall I do it?” said Mogyardra.
Subadwan nodded. Placing the nozzle on the ochre patch, he activated the tongue. The aeromorph rumbled by. Mogyardra leaned out and fired.
“A hit!”
Subadwan, her heart thumping, leaned out of the passage. The aeromorph had stopped only a few yards away. For some seconds it lay quiescent like a confused beast, before an extraordinary transformation began. The soot-blackened outer plates of the aeromorph fell away to reveal a latticework interior of pipes, ducts and cables, all gleaming metal and coloured plastic, with gouts of black oil and clouds of steam spurting from exposed vents. The aeromorph seemed to shiver, and more of its exterior fell away, so that the street became littered with piles of metal and smoking plastic. What remained - half its original volume - was an almost humanoid form twenty feet long, wracked with spasms. Subadwan realised that the thing was trying to rid itself of all traces of the ochre plague. Yet it seemed to be panicking. Bolts, cables, and fragments of metal were flying in all directions as the aeromorph shook itself into an ever smaller form, until all that remained was a recumbent figure like a dying pyuton.
Subadwan understood that it was a dying pyuton. This was the transformation that Tanglanah and Laspetosyne had undergone to become pyutons; but they had endured it in their own time, and without stress. Now Subadwan understood the potential of her plan. If she could destroy the remaining aeromorphs she would bar the surviving beings of Gwmru from manifesting. Forced to stay in their abstract land, they would continue to sustain Cray while they lived within it - and they would not depart since they would not leave Tanglanah and Laspetosyne behind.
Again Subadwan looked out into the street. She saw an oil-covered pyuton, its glittering innards visible as if it had been unable to create a skin. It tried to climb to its feet, but failed. With a screech of metal, its limbs fell off and its torso disintegrated. There were a few sparks, a few oily bubbles, and then nothing.