The Ethical Engineer

by Harry Harrison

yet, I have barely looked at the thing. In fact one look wasenough to convince that the job will be as easy as stealing _krenoj_from a blind man. The engine is as inefficient and clumsy inconstruction as your petroleum still. If you people put one tenth ofthe energy into research and improving your product as you do intohiding it from the competition, you would all be flying jets."

  "I forgive your insult because you have done us a service. You willnow fix this engine and the other engines. A new day is breaking forus!"

  "Right now it is a new night that is breaking for me," Jason yawned."I have two days sleep to make up. See if you can talk your sons intowiping the water off that engine before it rusts away, and when I getback I'll see what I can do about getting it into running condition."

  IX

  Edipon's good mood remained and Jason took advantage of it byextracting as many concessions as possible. By hinting that theremight be more traps in the engine permission was easily gained to doall the work on the original site instead of inside the sealed andguarded buildings. A covered shed gave them protection from theweather and a test stand was constructed to hold the engines whenJason worked on them. This was of a unique design and built to Jason'sexacting specification, and since no one, including Mikah, had everheard of or seen a test stand before Jason had his way.

  The first engine proved to have a burnt-out bearing and Jason rebuiltit by melting down the original bearing metal and casting it inposition. When he unbolted the head of the massive single cylinder heshuddered at the clearance around the piston; he could fit his fingersinto the opening between the piston and the cylinder wall; byintroducing cylinder rings he doubled the compression and poweroutput. When Edipon saw the turn of speed the rebuilt engine gave his_caroj_ he hugged Jason to his bosom and promised him the highestreward. This turned out to be a small piece of meat every day torelieve the monotony of the _krenoj_ meals, and a doubled guard tomake sure that his valuable property did not escape.

  Jason had his own plans and kept busy manufacturing a number ofpieces of equipment that had nothing at all to do with hisengine-overhauling business. While these were being assembled he wentabout lining up a little aid.

  "What would you do if I gave you a club?" he asked a burly slave whomhe was helping to haul a log towards his workshop. Narsisi and one ofhis brothers lazed along out of earshot, bored by the routine of theguard duty.

  "What I do with club?" the slave grunted, forehead furrowing and mouthgaping open with the effort of thought.

  "That's what I asked. And keep pulling while you think, I don't wantthe guards to notice anything."

  "If I have club, I kill!" the slave announced excitedly, fingersgrasping eagerly for coveted weapon.

  "Would you kill me?"

  "I have club, I kill you, you not so big."

  "But if I gave you the club wouldn't I be your friend? Then wouldn'tyou want to kill someone else?"

  The novelty of this alien thought stopped the slave dead and hescratched his head perplexedly until Narsisi lashed him back to work.Jason sighed and found another slave to try his sales program on.

  It took a while, but the idea was eventually percolating through theranks of the slaves. All they had to look forward to from theD'zertanoj was backbreaking labor and an early death. Jason offeredthem something else, weapons, a chance to kill their masters, and evenmore killing later when they marched on Appsala. It was difficult forthem to grasp the idea that they must work together to accomplish thisand not kill Jason and each other as soon as they received weapons.

  It was a chancy plan at best, and would probably break down longbefore any visit could be made to the city. But the revolt should beenough to free them from bondage, even if the slaves fled afterwards.There were less than fifty D'zertanoj at this well station, all men,with their women and children at some other settlement further back inthe hills. It would not be too hard to kill them or chase them off andlong before they could bring reinforcements Jason and his runawayslaves would be gone. There was just one factor missing from his plansand a new draft of slaves solved even that problem for him.

  "Happy days," he laughed, pushing open the door to his quarters andrubbing his hands together with glee. The guard shoved Mikah in afterhim and locked the door. Jason secured it with his own interior boltthen waved the two others over to the corner farthest from the doorand tiny window opening.

  * * * * *

  "New slaves today," he told them, "and one of them is from Appsala, amercenary or a soldier of some kind that they captured on a skirmish.He knows that they will never let him live long enough to leave here,so he was grateful for any suggestions I had."

  "This is man's talk I do not understand," Ijale said, turning away andstarting towards the cooking fire.

  "You'll understand this," Jason said, taking her by the shoulder."The soldier knows where Appsala is and can lead us there. The timehas come to think about leaving this place."

  He had all of her attention now, and Mikah's as well, "How is this?"she gasped.

  "I have been making my plans, I have enough files and lockpicks now tocrack into every room in this place, a few weapons, the key to thearmory and every able bodied slave on my side."

  "What do you plan to do?" Mikah asked.

  "Stage a servile revolt in the best style. The slaves fight theD'zertanoj and we get away, perhaps with an army helping us, but atleast we get away."

  "You are talking _revolution_!" Mikah bellowed and Jason jumped himand knocked him to the floor. Ijale held his legs down while Jasonsquatted on his chest and covered his mouth.

  "What is the matter with you? Want to spend the rest of your liferebuilding stolen engines? They are guarding us too well for there tobe much chance of our breaking out on our own, so we need allies. Wehave them ready made, all the slaves."

  "Brevilushun...." Mikah mumbled through the restraining fingers.

  "Of course it's a revolution. It is also the only possible chance ofsurvival that these poor devils will ever have. Now they are humancattle, beaten and killed on whim. You can't be feeling sorry for theD'zertanoj--every one of them is a murderer ten times over. You'veseen them beat people to death. Do you feel that they are too nice tosuffer a revolution?"

  Mikah relaxed and Jason removed his hand slightly, ready to clamp downif the other's voice rose above a whisper.

  "Of course they are not nice, beasts in human garb is more truthful. Ifeel no mercy for them and they should be wiped out and blotted fromthe face of the earth as was Sodom and Gomorrah. But it cannot be doneby revolution, revolution is evil, inherently evil."

  Jason stifled a groan. "Try telling that to two-thirds of thegovernments that now exist, since that's about how many were foundedby revolution. Nice, liberal democratic governments--that were startedby a bunch of lads with guns and the immense desire to run things in amanner more beneficial to themselves. How else do you get rid of thepowers on your neck if there is no way to legally vote them away? Ifyou can't vote them--shoot them."

  "Bloody revolution, it cannot be!"

  "All right, no revolution," Jason said, getting up and wiping hishands disgustedly. "We'll change the name. How about calling it aprison break? No, you wouldn't like that either. I haveit--liberation! We are going to strike the chains off these poorpeople and restore them to the lands from which they were stolen. Thetiny fact that the slave holders regard them as property and won'tthink much of the idea, therefore might get hurt in the process,shouldn't bother you. So--will you join me in this LiberationMovement?"

  "It is still revolution."

  "It is whatever I decide to call it!" Jason raged. "You come alongwith me on the plans or you will be left behind when we go. You havemy word on that." He stomped over and helped himself to some soup andwaited for his anger to simmer down.

  "I cannot do it ... I cannot do it," Mikah brooded, staring into hisrapidly cooling soup as into an oracular crystal ball, seekingguidance there. Jason turned his back in disgust.

  *
* * * *

  "Don't end up like him," he warned Ijale, pointing his spoon back overhis shoulder. "Not that there is much chance that you ever will comingas you do from a society with its feet firmly planted on the ground,or on the grave to be more accurate. Your people see only concretefacts, and only the most obvious ones, and as simple an abstraction as'trust' seems beyond you. While this long-faced clown can only thinkin abstractions of abstractions, and the more unreal they are thebetter. I bet he even worries about how many angels can dance on thehead of a pin."

  "I do not worry about it," Mikah broke in, overhearing the remark."But I do think about it once in a