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"More than that: there's talk that CoDo's pla
"Uh, I've heard rumors to that effect," Brodski hedged. "Face it, Harmonies aren't exactly popular with the government right now, and if they have a planet of their own it's more than they deserve. Or so thinks CoDo."
Makhno gave him a cold smile. "Now, how do you think Jomo will react to that? By just giving up and meekly knuckling under?"
Brodski pursed his lips, and shook his head.
"Right. He'll plan some way to be profitable to the CoDo troops and governor. No way can he raise and train an army near town."
Brodski sat up straight, staring hard at the cleared fields around him and the meandering stone fortress.
Makhno caught the look, and gri
". . . right," Brodski slowly agreed.
"And the fact that Ahnli and Zilla knew about this place means that word has spread around Docktown. Don't ask me how; I was careful to be discreet."
"Patient observers could add two and two," Van Damm considered. "You leave with several women, you come back with valuable crops . . . ."
"That's why we hired you two," Makhno finished. "The Simbas'll come, soon or late, and we have to be ready for 'em."
"I see." Brodski rattled his fingers on the log for a moment. "How do you think they will come? I doubt they'll walk."
"They'll probably use the Last Resort. According to Ahnli and Zilla, they were going to take her when she came in next, and we passed her on the way out."
"We had better figure out some kind of nasty surprise for them," said Van Damm. "We must talk to your machinist and chemist."
"All right, you can do that after di
"By using its capabilities against it," replied Brodski. "More like preparing for the future. We put something together that will work under a lot of different circumstances and apply it when one of them turns up.
"So as I was saying, what's your position when the invasion comes?"
Makhno thought that over for a moment. "Well, hell, I've been a supply-ru
"Good enough for now. I think Van Damm and I should start applying for jobs as gu
"Stay?" Makhno was jolted to realize that he didn't like the idea. The next instant he knew why, and kicked himself. Hadn't he been complaining about the pure hard work of being one of only three men among a dozen women? "Uh, we can't afford to pay you beyond what we agreed."
"No problem, son," said Brodski, reloading his pipe. "We plan to do just what the ladies have done: Take our land-share. Just when do you expect Jomo to make his try?"
"Well, the next ship is due in ten months. He'll want to have control solid before then."
"Mmhmm. We'd better join Jane's fief in a hurry."
" 'Fief?" Makhno scratched his head. "More of a co-op, I think. Everybody's got their little patch, but we share the tools, knowledge, labor and resources."
"Come on, boy. Jane's really in charge here. She was the one who smuggled in the pot seeds, wasn't she?-Oh, don't jump like that; I'm not about to run and tell Jomo on you. Hell, I think it's the best thing to hit Haven since the Survey Teams! But it's her seed, her land and her rule, isn't it? And she lends-or more exactly, rents out-her tools and knowledge and seed and the other resources in exchange for shares of the crops, right? And it's her castle that everybody's going to hole up in when the attack comes, right? So just what would you call an arrangement like that?"
"That depends." Makhno gri
"Good Lord!" Brodski bellowed. "Ya mean they're go
"Why not?" Makhno's grin got wider. "You just said yourself that they made pretty good soldiers, so they're not that ignorant. They all wanted the land deal, so they're not that lazy. Besides, it's their land, their kids, and their asses on the line when the Simbas come-so who's got the right to dispose of all that for them?"
Brodski subsided into swearing and muttering. He was still at it when the di
Half the population of Docktown, and no few eyes from Castell City, watched Jomo's expedition depart. The Last Resort, loaded with three-fourths of Jomo's army-with food, supplies, and all of the CoDo stu
DeCastro stood on the dock, watching them go, his smile only half forced. He calculated that Jomo's expedition would take at least three full cycles to sweep all three branches of the river, with brief returns to Dock-town in between to unload cargo.
That meant that one Tomas Messenger y DeCastro had roughly one cycle to assure the loyalty of the twenty troops Jomo had left him. Such assuring would necessarily include thi
The five men sat plotting and scheming and arguing at the cleared di
"So what is it you want?" asked Falstaff. "Understand that we don't have a lot of resources."
"I was thinking through di
"You'll have to be careful of River-Jacks. They're nasty and hungry and they'll take care of any Simbas we miss," said Makhno.
"How will we get through them?" asked Brodski.
"Blue tree sap will do it. Just rub it on your body and it keeps them away."
"Yah . . . Painted blue like an ancient Briton," said Van Damm. "But what boat are they likely to have, Captain Makhno?"
"Since they couldn't grab the Bitch . . . the next best ship is the Last Resort. She mostly fishes on Lake Castell; easy prey for Jomo, I'd guess. Hmm, but she's just a diesel-powered trawler with a wooden hull."
"A wooden hull!" Brodski snorted. "How're you going to put a mine on something like that?"
Falstaff giggled, his white teeth showing sharply against his black skin. "I have a solution. One of the kids pissed in a pot of Eggtree sap I had been working with, and I tried to wash it out."
"So?" asked Van Damm.
"The stuff stuck my hands to the pot and to the wooden spoon. I had to use alcohol to get loose. I figure it'll do as an underwater glue. Hell, I was stuck tight in less than ten seconds."
"I . . . see . . ." purred Van Damm.
"Sounds good to me," chortled Brodski. "A real-heh!-'solution' for a real problem."
"Captain Makhno, do you know the interior of the Last Resort?" Van Damm plowed on. "Can you draw a plan showing where a small charge would fill the greatest open space, other than the engine room?"
"Maybe, but why not the engine room?"
"Because we might want to salvage her later."