It didn’t.
“Not going work,” Jak said.
And that, Ryan knew, was the size of it. They were trapped.
SWEAT COVERED Ryan inside his long coat. His breath gusted out of him in gray plumes as he worked with the camp ax. His arm felt leaden, but he didn’t want to give in to fatigue. More ice chips and chunks flew when the ax bit into the solid mass on the other side of the mat-trans unit’s door.
He’d excavated a hole some two feet wide that went back almost eighteen inches. The hole got narrower as it went, too, because he couldn’t work the ax very well.
“Ryan,” J.B. said gently. “Take a breather. Can’t do this all on your own.”
“Fireblast, I know it.” Reluctantly Ryan yielded the ax.
The Armorer stepped up to the ice hole and began methodically to hammer away.
Ryan crossed the floor and dropped into a seated position beside Krysty. The metal floor was so cold now it nearly froze his rear end to sit on it. Krysty took his left hand in hers. He was surprised to find that her hands felt even colder than his.
“Hungry, lover?” she asked.
“Yeah. Big meal we had at Aunt Maim’s seemed to have worked itself through me.”
Krysty popped the tab on a self-heat and passed it over.
Ryan relished the heat of the container when she passed it over. The aroma was thick and not terribly appealing, but he breathed it in anyway because it was warm. Anything to get warmth back into his chilled body. He drank the broth from the container, and chewed the long noodles that were packed into it. He thought it might have been Oriental seasonings, but it could have been anything else, as well.
“We still have some plas ex,” Dean said. “I’ve never known a time when J.B. got rid of every bit he had. He’s always keeping some stashed somewhere.”
“What are you thinking?” Ryan asked, looking at his son. “We might blow our way out of here? Have you given any thought to how much damage we might do to this unit if we did that? Or what could be waiting on the other side of that ice wall?”
Dean grimaced. “I thought about it some. I thought mebbe it was better to take the chance than to sit here waiting.” The boy looked crestfallen.
“And I thought I taught you better than that. When you’re forced to make a move, especially when you’re in a tight spot, you’ve got to shave the odds.”
Dean nodded, not meeting his father’s eyes.
“That ice wall could be keeping things out, as well as us in,” Ryan went on. “Suppose we’re underwater? Blow that ice wall out, mebbe we all drown before we can get that bastard door shut quick enough. Keep the hole small and manageable, we can get it plugged before the mat-trans unit fills up.”
“You think that’s it, then?” Albert asked. The dwarfs eyes showed white with fear. “You think we’re underwater?” He glanced at the hole where J.B. worked with steadfast determination, and at the growing pile of ice chips.
Disposing of the ice they were bringing into the mat-trans unit was a real problem. Depending on how much they had to store, Ryan knew they might not have enough room to take it all in.
“Don’t know,” Ryan answered. “Be just as likely that we’re sitting at the top of a brand-new mountain range along the western coast that would drop us as part of an avalanche if we set off any plas ex.”
“My dear Ryan, is it necessary to worry Albert so?” Doc admonished. “He’s new to the worries and whims of capricious fate when dealing out the ill hands in regards to these demonic devices.”
“A man who doesn’t want to know the answers, Doc,” Ryan said with some irritation, “shouldn’t be asking the questions.”
“The reason I asked about the plas ex,” Dean said quietly, “is because we may need to use it soon.”
“What the hell for?” Ryan snapped. “Still got plenty of room to haul in more ice. We can keep working that hole for hours.”