assent because Snarbi tottered after him when he made his waythrough the dark alleys between the buildings.
Getting clear of the walled refinery town presented no problem sincethe few sentries were only looking for trouble from the outside. Itwas equally easy to approach Jason's leather-walled worksite from therear and slip through it at the spot where Jason had cut the leatherand sewn up the opening with thin twine.
"Sit here and touch nothing or you will be cursed for life," hecommanded the shivering Snarbi, then slipped towards the frontentrance with a small sledge hammer clutched in his fist. He waspleased to see one of Edipon's other sons on guard duty, leaningagainst a pole and dozing. Jason gently lifted his leather helm withhis free hand and tapped once with the hammer: the guard slept evenmore soundly.
"Now we can get to work," Jason said when he had returned inside, andclicked a firelighter to the wick of a lantern.
"What are you doing? They'll see us, kill us--escaped slaves."
"Stick with me Snarbi and you'll be wearing shoes. Lights here can'tbe seen by the sentries, I made sure of that when I sited the place.And we have a piece of work to do before we leave--we have to build a_caroj_."
They did not have to build it from scratch, but there was enough truthin the statement to justify it. His most recently rebuilt and mostpowerful engine was still bolted to the test stand, a fact thatjustified all the night's risks. Three _caroj_ wheels lay among theother debris of the camp and two of them were to be bolted to theengine while it was still on the stand. The ends of the driving axlecleared the edges of the stand, Jason threaded the securing wheelbolts into place and utilized Snarbi to tighten them.
At the other end of the stand was a strong, swiveling post that hadbeen a support for his test instruments, and seemed strangely largefor this small task. It was. When the instruments were stripped away asingle bar remained projecting backwards like a tiller handle. When athird wheel was fitted with a stub axle and slid into place in theforked lower end of the post the test stand looked remarkably like athree-wheeled, steerable, steam engine powered platform that wasmounted on legs. This is exactly what it was, what Jason had designedit to be from the first, and the supporting legs came away with thesame ease that the other parts had been attached. Escape had alwaystaken first priority in his plans.
Snarbi dragged over the crockery jars of oil, water and fuel whileJason filled the tanks. He started the fire under the boiler andloaded aboard tools and the small supply of _krenoj_ he had managed toset aside from their rations. All of this took time, but not timeenough. It would soon be dawn and they would have to leave beforethen, and he could no longer avoid making up his mind. He could notleave Ijale here, and if he went to get her he could not refuse totake Mikah as well. The man had saved his life, no matter whatmurderous idiocies he had managed to pull since that time. Jasonbelieved that you owed something to a man who prolonged yourexistence, but he also wondered just how much he still owed. InMikah's case he felt the balance of the debt to be mighty small, ifnot overdrawn. Perhaps this one last time.
"Keep an eye on the engine and I'll be back as soon as I can," hesaid, jumping to the ground and loading on equipment.
"You want me to do _what_? Stay here with this devil machine? Icannot! It will burn and consume me--"
"Act your age, Snarbi, your physical age if not your mental one. Thisrolling junk pile was made by men and repaired and improved by me, nodemons involved. It burns oil to make heat that makes steam that goesto this tube to push that rod to make those wheels go around so we canmove, and that is as much of the theory of the steam engine as you aregoing to get from me. Maybe you can understand this better--only I canget you safely away from here. Therefore, you will stay and do as Isay or I will beat your brains in. Clear?"
Snarbi nodded dumbly.
"Fine. All you have to do is sit here and look at this little greendisk, see it? If it should pop out before I come back turn _this_handle in _this_ direction. Clear enough? That way the safety valvewon't blow and wake the whole country and we'll still have a head ofsteam."
Jason went out past the still-silent sentry and headed back towardsthe refinery station. Instead of a club or a dagger he was armed witha well tempered broadsword that he had managed to manufacture underthe noses of the guards. They had examined everything he brought fromthe worksite, since he had been working in the evenings in his room,but ignored everything he manufactured as being beyond theircomprehension. This primordial mental attitude had been of immensevalue for in addition to the sword he carried a sack of molotails, asimple weapon of assault whose origins were lost in pre-history. Smallcrocks were filled with the most combustible of the refinery'sfractions and wrapped around outside with cloth that he had soaked inthe same liquid. The stench made him dizzy and he hoped that theywould repay his efforts when the time came, since they were completelyuntried. In use one lit the outer covering and threw them. Thecrockery burst on impact and the fuse ignited the contents.Theoretically.
Getting back in proved to be as easy as getting out, and Jason felt anunmistakable twinge of regret. His subconscious had obviously beenhoping that there would be a disturbance and he would have to retreatto save himself, his subconscious obviously being very short oninterest in saving the slave girl and his nemesis, particularly at therisk of his own skin. His subconscious was disappointed. He was in thebuilding where his quarters lay, trying to peek around the corner tosee if a guard was at the door. There was, and he seemed to be dozing,but something jerked him awake. He had heard nothing but he sniffedthe air and wrinkled his nose; the powerful smell of water-of-powerfrom Jason's molotails had roused him and he spotted Jason before hecould pull back.
"Who is there?" he shouted and advanced at a lumbering run.
There was no quiet way out of this one so Jason leaped out with anechoing shout and lunged. The blade went right under the man'sguard--he must never have seen a sword before--and the tip caught himfull in the throat. He expired with a bubbling wail that stirredvoices deeper in the building. Jason sprang over the corpse and toreat the multifold bolts and locks that sealed the door. Footsteps wererunning in the distance when he finally threw the door open and ranin.
"Get out and quick we're escaping!" he shouted at them and pushed thedazed Ijale towards the door and exacted a great deal of pleasure fromlanding a tremendous kick that literally lifted Mikah through theopening, where he collided with Edipon who had just run up waving aclub. Jason leaped over the tumbled forms, rapped Edipon behind theear with the hilt of his sword and dragged Mikah to his feet.
"Get out to the engine works," he ordered his still uncomprehendingcompanions. "I have a _caroj_ there that we can get away in." Hecursed them and they finally broke into clumsy motion. There wereshouts from behind him and an armed mob of D'zertanoj ran into view.Jason pulled down the hall light, burning his hand on the hot base atthe same time, and applied its open flame to one of his molotails. Thewick caught with a roar of flame and he threw it at approachingsoldiers before it could burn his hand. It flew towards them, hit thewall and broke, inflammable fuel spurted in every direction and theflame went out.
Jason cursed and grappled for another molotail, because if they didn'twork he was dead. The D'zertanoj had hesitated a moment rather thanwalk through the puddle of spilled water-of-power and in that instanthe hurled the second fire bomb. This one burst nicely too, and livedup to its maker's expectations when it ignited the first molotail aswell and the passageway filled with a curtain of fire. Holding hishand around the lamp flame so it wouldn't go out, Jason ran after theothers.
So far the alarm had not spread outside of the building and Jasonbolted the door from the outside. By the time this was broken open andthe confusion sorted out they would be clear of the buildings. Therewas no need for the lamp now and would only give him away. He blew itout and from the desert came a continuous and ear-piercing scream.
"He's done it," Jason groaned. "That's the safety valve on the steamengine!"
He bumped into Ijale and Mikah w
ho were milling about confusedly inthe dark, kicked Mikah again out of sheer malice and hatred of allmankind, and led them towards the worksite at a dead run.
* * * * *
They escaped unharmed mainly because of the confusion on all sides ofthem. The D'zertanoj seemed to never have experienced a night attackbefore, which they apparently thought this was, and did an incredibleamount of rushing about and shouting. Matters were not helped by theburning building nor the unconscious form of Edipon that was carriedfrom the blaze. All the D'zertanoj had been roused by the scream ofthe safety valve, that was still bleeding irreplacable steam into thenight air, and there was much milling about.
In the confusion the fleeing slaves were not noticed, and Jason ledthem around the guard post on the walls
The Ethical Engineer Page 19
