“Even Hitler liked dogs,” Mildred said.
“Damn. I was almost hoping this was the good land we’ve been searching for.” Krysty sighed, pushing away the half-filled plate. “Guess not.”
“Aside from the crap in the streets,” J.B. said, “the ville is okay. Walls are sturdy, the gate solid. But as a precaution, I’ve had two of the wall cannons elevated to point down at the beach before the gate. Jak had the idea of loading them with pieces of coral and broken clamshells.”
“Short-range only,” Ryan said. “But it’ll blow any boarding party onto the last train west, that’s for sure.”
“Piecemeal,” the albino added. “Nobody try twice.”
“Expect trouble?” Krysty asked, wiping off her mouth of a cloth napkin. She was the only person at the table with such a luxury.
“Only known way to avoid it,” Ryan answered succinctly. “Unfortunately the ville is low on black powder again.”
“Low?”
“Damn near out.”
“Shit!”
“Now Doc and I checked around,” J.B. said, tapping some ashes onto the floor, “and there’s everything we need to make more. Give me some ceramic or plastic bowls, and I’ll have folks filling barrels with gunpowder in less than a day.”
“Like we use?” Dean asked, sounding surprised. He had never seen bullets reloaded except from vacuum-packed tins of silvery powder from a redoubt.
“Our blasters don’t use gunpowder,” Ryan explained. “I know we call it gunpowder, but it isn’t. Stuff is called cordite, a mix of powdered nitroglycerin and guncotton. That’s why it’s smokeless, and doesn’t cause shells to jam.”
“Gunpowder is the same thing as black powder.”
J.B. finished. “Just processed differently. And got ten times the power.”
“Going to need plastic window screens,” Doc said, patting the LeMat at his hip.
J.B. smiled. “Yeah. You would know that.”
“If what we heard about the lord baron is true,” Krysty said, pushing away her dirty plates, “he’ll go ballistic when he learns we’ve got the secret.”
“No choice. When folks hear there’s a new baron, somebody is going to try and attack before you’re dug in deep. We’ll have to move fast, and leave soon as we can,” Ryan agreed. “Then the locals can settle who’s in charge among themselves. Not our business.”
“True enough.”
“Hopefully there is something useful in the vault.”
“You mean the armory,” Krysty corrected.
“Nope. That was full of powder and shot for the sec men, a bunch of crossbows, axes, spare parts from broken weapons, that sort of stuff.” He glanced sideways. “But your faithful guards wouldn’t let us in without bloodshed, or you.”
“Because I’m the baron,” Krysty said with a sour expression. Loyalty was one thing; stupidity was another. “Okay, let’s see what Langford was hiding from everybody.”
“Could be a pile of predark porn,” Mildred suggested.
“Or a nuke. Only one way to find out.”
Rising from the dining table, the companions headed for the door. Outside, the squad of armed sec men in the courtyard moved quickly out another door, weapons at the ready.
IN THE NOISY gaudy house, the madam was crouched over a basin of warm water, washing herself in preparation for the next sec man who lay naked on the sweaty bed, when she heard a snatch of conversation from departing customers.
“…he said it’s gray?”
“Yeah, and supposed to be a lot better than our black powder.”
“Gray powder. Ain’t no law against making that, is there?”
“Nope!”
Brushing past the nude man, the madam rushed to the doorway, but there was a crowd of sec men waiting in line, and it was impossible to tell who had been talking. Nuking hell!
Going to the railing, she leaned over, receiving a horde of catcalls from the men below over the glorious cleavage on display. She flashed some to make them happy, then closed her robe, cinching the belt tight.
“Sue-Ann!” the madam shouted over the moaning and panting coming from everywhere in the predark library.
“Yeah?” a voice called from behind a marble column. A topless woman stepped into view, her hand still busy.
“I’m going to the dock for a minute,” the madam said. “You’re in charge till I come back.”
Her straggly hair in wild disarray, the slut slowed in her work while staring thoughtfully at the excited older woman.