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Nevertheless, she da for the nearest support tower It was basically a tall pole sunk into the ground at the edge of the gorge It hadbreath and began to climb

The sh road It see certain the scarf was secure about her body and the reticule about her neck, Rue swung herself up, legs wrapped about the cable, and began to shi work I should consider taking on labour as a deckling to i not so very fit, Rue had to take it gradually, otherwise her an to shake But she made it – a fact that she noticed only when her head bashed into the trunk of the ears that fitted into tracks on the cable It presented a bit of difficulty to Rue, who could no longer crawl dangling from the cable towards the head of the beast And that was her objective since Quesnel had said it housed the navigation cha to flip herself over and on top of the trunk so that she could scoot up it, legs and ar on her belly Her poor tuh ine what Mother would say, thought Rue, ofine Mother would have called her all kinds of heathen and ordered her to get dressed immediately Rue had the whole conversation in her head as she squire peel!"

"But Mother, I am stranded in the inary Mother "Trivial detail Your reputation is a stake What will they think of you?"

"Who? The local grubs?"

"How do you know grubs don’t have delicate sensibilities? Cover yourself this instant, infant," was her inary Rue said in exasperation

Funny that even in uments with my mother

Eventually, the trunk dipped below the cable and widened enough for Rue to crawl on all fours leaving the cable above her She found herself face to face with one elephantine eye – an eye that was really athrough which the conductor ht with hands on either side of her face The navigation chamber appeared to be e to hijack an elephant train in the le

Rue wasn’t certain at what point her subconscious had decided to hijack the air train – probably while the rest of her argued with her ainst her, her chances of convincing the crew of her point of vieere slim Plus she was too e dee peel

So as she continued crawling, she began to plan a theft She kept in h such lessons had reat deal smaller

There ines that creould coht cars that made up the elephant’s body from the locomotive of the elephant’s head The elephant wasfrom the cable by its trunk but she knew that, in function, sky trains were much like a normal trains, hooked in at multiple points

Rue crawled up and over the top part of the noggin, wiggling around the point where the head attached to the cable From there, she manoeuvred down between the massive leather ears

She lost purchase, sed a screa thud at the coupling point

The locomotive was chained and locked with a ain for stronger ared eventually to brace herself between the two sections, and use her legs to lever the hitch up and off its hook She then uncoiled the ed to get the elephant head h to break away before any creoke and reconnected the hitch, or ju to face the head, Rue inched around the side, balancing on a little lip at the creature’s chin, no doubt a reinal construction It was precarious and re in handholds, but eventually she ine room

No doubt the door was easy to open when one was at a station, or even on one of the pole-top platforms It was not as easy mid-air The door was directly below one of Ganesha’s ears Rue leaned in and rattled the handle as quietly as she could while still clinging desperately with her free hand to the elephant’s side The door swung open so abruptly that she lost her balance and grabbed the ear Fortunately, the leather was riveted on and held She dangled there like a Rue-shaped earring, breath caught in her throat By sheer will, for it could not be ability, sheinside, closing the door fir to be safe in the cabin It took a very long time for her heart rate to subside

The uidance console woke up and stared at her in astonishment