Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 118
and rip it off. We can't face Armiger without real weapons--a
plasma cannon would do."
She laughed shortly. "We stick to the plan. When we've
got him in our sights, the Desert Voice will hit him from orbit."
"And then the Winds will blow your starship out of the
sky!"
She glowered at the table top. "My reading of the Winds
is that they have an abysmal reaction time. They let us bring
the cutter down, and it got back to the Voice okay. Nothing
technological stayed on the surface, as far as they know."
"Yeah, but they'll object to Armiger getting nuked. I
have another idea."
She didn't really like the current plan either, so she said,
"Go ahead."
"We contact the Winds ourselves. Tell them about
Armiger. They're like the immune system for the entire planet;
any foreign body gets eliminated eventually. Like we will be,
if we stay here too long. I don't know how Armiger’s lasted
this long; superior technology, I guess--"
"Well, precisely," she pointed out. "He's more
sophisticated than the Winds. Even if we knew how to carry
on a rational conversation with the Winds, do you think they'd
believe us? I'm sure Armiger’s totally invisible to them. And I
doubt it's going to change."
"Ventus is a lot more complicated than we thought," he
said. "Some people do talk to the Winds; I've heard more
stories in the past couple of days--"
"Stories? Axel, this planet breeds myths like fungus!
None of the locals have a clue what the Winds are, and if they
did they can't affect them at all."
"They can--there are ways. Do you seriously believe
humans would co-habit this world with them for so long