Minutes later, silence ruled what remained of Casanova. Not a wall stood intact, not a creature moved, not a sound could be heard except for a low bubbling from the white-hot lava pool in the middle of the flaky black soil. Then a low rumble of thunder sounded as lightning flashed, and the clear sky darkened again to form a solid dome of stormy clouds over the precise circle of destruction.
THE SOUNDS OF METAL ON METAL, and metal on stone, filled the hollow expanse of the quarry. A wide road spiraled down the sides of the great pit all the way to the cutting floor, where the slaves trimmed the massive stone blocks into smooth rectangles. A sentry post was placed at the bottom of the ramp, with another at the distant top.
At the bottom of the quarry was a runoff pool to catch the rain and divert it from the workers. An electric sump pump sucked out the muddy water, a feeder pipe rising along the quarry wall and disappearing over the top. The feeder pipe was festooned with concertina wire to discourage climbing. Near the pool was a set of stocks, where an unconscious slave still stood, flies covering the bloody shreds of his back.
On the cutting floor, an APC backed near a stone block, and the driver got out. Carefully, he inspected the block for cracks, then measured it with a yardstick and finally used a plumb line to make sure it was squared off neat.
“This’ll do,” he announced. “Hitch the bitch, boys.”
A team of slaves moved forward and began to attach long lengths of steel chains from the APC to the block so it could be dragged off to join the hundreds of others that were part of the wall ringing the complex.
“Where we at?” an overseer asked, smoking a cigarette and offering the pack. The slaves looked on with greed, but said nothing and continued to work.
“Thanks.” The driver took one and lit it with a stick match. “Just starting the second course. Another month, it’ll be ten feet high!”
“Shoot, what a sight. Ain’t no mutie gonna get over that.”
“Hell, boy, we couldn’t smash through it now even with one of the rocket-tube things.”
“Ain’t it the truth, brother.”
When the slaves were done, the overseer checked the links around the block, while the driver checked the tow bar on the APC, then climbed inside. The slaves stood nearby, savoring the moment of not doing anything.
“All set here!” the overseer called. “Roll away!”
“Back in a few!” the driver answered, waving an arm through the top hatch and driving off slowly, the mammoth stone dragging behind sounding like a baby earthquake.
“All right, break’s over,” the overseer called, hitching his pants. “Get your lazy asses back to the face. We want another block by sunset.”
The slaves shuffled off toward the bare rock face of the quarry, joining other slaves already edging blocks and driving in wedges with heavy sledgehammers. The newcomers had been chained in pairs, Mad Dog with Cooler, Snake with Digger. The odd man out, Scarface, was paired with an old slave called Bo, probably with the notion that the whitehair would help slow down any possible trouble from the huge, burly cannie.
Dragging the length of chain between his legs, Scarface picked up a sledgehammer from a line of them and moved to a nearly finished block. Bo placed the wedge in the thin crack outlining the stone, then Scarface swung the sledgehammer, driving the steel wedge deep into the surrounding stone. Bo placed another wedge into position, and the cannie shifted his stance, pausing to spit on his hands to get a better grip.
“Keep working,” an overseer snarled, and flicked the tip of a bullwhip lightly across the man’s wide shoulders.
Scarface didn’t flinch at the contact: he merely grunted.
As the overseer moved on to harass another, Scarface and Bo stepped into the cool shadows under an overhang created by the removal of a block. The rest of the crew was already there. Their whole shift had received a beating for making the mistake of undercutting the face, but it had been worth the pain. The recess gave them a spot on the floor where they could be out of sight for minutes at a time, sometimes more.
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