woebetide if they shall go empty for the powers will halt or
worse. Fire goes in here as you guessed, and when the green finger
comes forward this lever may be turned for motion. The next is for
great speed or going slow. The very last is under the sign of the red
finger, which when it points indicates need, and the handle must be
turned and held until the finger retires. White breath comes from the
opening in back. That is all there is."
"About what I expected," Jason muttered and examined the container
wall, rapping it with his knuckles until it boomed. "They give you the
minimum of controls to run the thing, so you won't learn anything
about the basic principles involved. Without the theory you would
never know what the handles control, or that the green indicator comes
out when you have operating pressure or the red one when the water
level is low in the boiler. Very neat. And the whole thing sealed up
in a can and booby-trapped in case you have any ideas of going into
business for yourself.
"The cover sounds like it is double walled, and from your description
I would say that it has one of the vesicant war gases, like mustard
gas, sealed inside there in liquid form. Anyone who tries to cut their
way in will quickly forget their ambitions after a dose of that. Yet
there must be a way to get inside the case and service the engine,
they aren't just going to throw them away after a few months' use. And
considering the level of technology displayed by this monstrosity I
should be able to find the tricks and get around any other built-in
traps. I think I'll take the job."
"Very well, begin."
"Wait a minute, boss, you still have a few things to learn about hired
labor. There are always certain working conditions and agreements
involved, all of which I'll be happy to list for you."
VIII
*
"What I do not understand is why you must have the other slave?"
Narsisi whined. "To have the woman of course is natural, as well as to
have quarters of your own, my father has given his permission. But he
also said that I and my brothers are to help you, that the secrets of
the engine are to be revealed to no one else."
"Then trot right over to him and get permission for the slave Mikah to
join me in the work. You can explain that he comes from the same land
that I do, and that your secrets are mere children's toys to him. And
if dad wants any other reasons tell him that I need skilled aid,
someone who knows how to handle tools and who can be trusted to follow
directions exactly as given. You and your brothers have entirely too
many ideas of your own about how things should be done, and a tendency
to leave details up to the gods and have a good bash with the hammer
if things don't work the way they should."
Narsisi retired, seething and mumbling to himself while Jason huddled
over the oil stove planning the next step. It had taken most of the
day to lay down logs for rollers and to push the sealed engine out
into the sandy valley, far from the well site; open space was needed
for any experiments where a mistake could release a cloud of war gas.
Even Edipon had finally seen the sense of this, though all of his
tendencies were to conduct the experiments with great secretiveness
behind locked doors. He had granted permission only after skin walls
had been erected to form an enclosure that could be guarded; it was
only incidental that they acted as a much-appreciated windbreak.
And after much argument the dangling chains and shackles had been
removed from Jason's arms and light-weight leg-irons substituted. He
had to shuffle when he walked but his arms were completely free, a
great improvement over the chains, even though one of the brothers
kept watch with a cocked crossbow as long as Jason wasn't fastened
down. Now he had to get some tools and some idea of the technical
knowledge of these people before he could proceed, which would
necessarily entail one more battle over their precious secrets.
"Come on," he called to his guard, "let's
worse. Fire goes in here as you guessed, and when the green finger
comes forward this lever may be turned for motion. The next is for
great speed or going slow. The very last is under the sign of the red
finger, which when it points indicates need, and the handle must be
turned and held until the finger retires. White breath comes from the
opening in back. That is all there is."
"About what I expected," Jason muttered and examined the container
wall, rapping it with his knuckles until it boomed. "They give you the
minimum of controls to run the thing, so you won't learn anything
about the basic principles involved. Without the theory you would
never know what the handles control, or that the green indicator comes
out when you have operating pressure or the red one when the water
level is low in the boiler. Very neat. And the whole thing sealed up
in a can and booby-trapped in case you have any ideas of going into
business for yourself.
"The cover sounds like it is double walled, and from your description
I would say that it has one of the vesicant war gases, like mustard
gas, sealed inside there in liquid form. Anyone who tries to cut their
way in will quickly forget their ambitions after a dose of that. Yet
there must be a way to get inside the case and service the engine,
they aren't just going to throw them away after a few months' use. And
considering the level of technology displayed by this monstrosity I
should be able to find the tricks and get around any other built-in
traps. I think I'll take the job."
"Very well, begin."
"Wait a minute, boss, you still have a few things to learn about hired
labor. There are always certain working conditions and agreements
involved, all of which I'll be happy to list for you."
VIII
*
"What I do not understand is why you must have the other slave?"
Narsisi whined. "To have the woman of course is natural, as well as to
have quarters of your own, my father has given his permission. But he
also said that I and my brothers are to help you, that the secrets of
the engine are to be revealed to no one else."
"Then trot right over to him and get permission for the slave Mikah to
join me in the work. You can explain that he comes from the same land
that I do, and that your secrets are mere children's toys to him. And
if dad wants any other reasons tell him that I need skilled aid,
someone who knows how to handle tools and who can be trusted to follow
directions exactly as given. You and your brothers have entirely too
many ideas of your own about how things should be done, and a tendency
to leave details up to the gods and have a good bash with the hammer
if things don't work the way they should."
Narsisi retired, seething and mumbling to himself while Jason huddled
over the oil stove planning the next step. It had taken most of the
day to lay down logs for rollers and to push the sealed engine out
into the sandy valley, far from the well site; open space was needed
for any experiments where a mistake could release a cloud of war gas.
Even Edipon had finally seen the sense of this, though all of his
tendencies were to conduct the experiments with great secretiveness
behind locked doors. He had granted permission only after skin walls
had been erected to form an enclosure that could be guarded; it was
only incidental that they acted as a much-appreciated windbreak.
And after much argument the dangling chains and shackles had been
removed from Jason's arms and light-weight leg-irons substituted. He
had to shuffle when he walked but his arms were completely free, a
great improvement over the chains, even though one of the brothers
kept watch with a cocked crossbow as long as Jason wasn't fastened
down. Now he had to get some tools and some idea of the technical
knowledge of these people before he could proceed, which would
necessarily entail one more battle over their precious secrets.
"Come on," he called to his guard, "let's
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