The Fabulous Riverboat by Phillip Jose Farmer

Sam groaned. It made no difference whether Hacking or Iyeyasu had the boat, if he couldn’t get it. But by the time they were inside the dam, he felt better. Maybe the two forces would destroy each other, and the Parolandanoj who’d fled could come back and take over. All wasn’t lost yet.

Moreover, the appearance of the Herculean Liver Eating Johnston heartened him. The Mysterious Stranger had not entirely abandoned him. He was still planning, and he had sent a damn good man for fighting, if the stories about him could be believed. Johnston was the sixth man the Stranger had chosen. The other six would show up sometime. But then one had been lost. Odysseus had disappeared.

Still he could show up again. The River was a great place for bad pennies, if you could call the Twelve that. They were bad for somebody. For the Stranger’s people, the Ethicals, Sam hoped.

In the dam, Johnston had to be introduced and the situation explained. Joe Miller, wrapped in towels, sat up and shook hands with Johnston. And Johnston, awe in his voice, said, “Night and day, this man-child seed many queer things. But I ain’t never seed one like you. You didn’t have to crush my hand, friend.”

“I didn’t try,” Joe said. “You look pretty big and thtrong to me. Bethideth, I been thick.”

About half an hour before the rains, they moved out. The land was relatively quiet by then. The celebrators had gone to bed, and everybody had cleared away from the fires in expectation of the rain. But the guard towers and the factories were full of enemy guards, and these had stopped drinking. Apparently, Hacking had called a halt to it.

Johnston, like a giant ghost, drifted away while they leaned against the side of the sulfuric acid factory. Ten minutes later, he was suddenly beside them.

“I been giving those blacks the ear,” he said. “That Hacking is shore one smart nigger. All that drinking and whooping it up and staggering around, why, that’s all put on! That’s fer the benefit of spies from Iyeyasujo. Hacking knows the Jap is going to attack tonight, and he’s making it look like it’s gonna be easy. But his men are worried. They’re short of gunpowder.”

Sam was startled by the news. He asked Johnston if he had overheard anything else.

“Yeah, I heard a couple of them Citizens talking about why Hacking decided he had to attack us. He knew Iyeyasu was going to do it, so he decided he had to jump the gun. If he didn’t, the Jap would have control of the metal and the amphibians and everything, and he’d just conquer Soul City next and then have everything. Them jackasses was laughing fit to kill. They said it was King John arranged with Hacking to take over. And then Hacking blew up King John in his own house because he didn’t trust John. Said John was a traitor and even if he wasn’t, he was a whitey and couldn’t be trusted.”

Sam said, “But why in hell would John do that to us? What did he have to gain?”

“Hacking and John was gonna conquer all the land for a hundred miles along The River and then split it. John was gonna rule the white half, and Hacking was gonna rule the black half. Half and half, with the two sharing everything equal. They was gonna build two boats, two of everything.” “What about Firebrass? Why’s he in the cage?”

“Dunno, but somebody did call him a traitor. And that kraut, what’s his name, Herring . . .” “Goring.”

“Yeah. Well, it wasn’t Hacking was to blame for his being tortured. Some a them Wahhabi Ayrabs did it. They’s got it in for the Second Chancers, you know, and they got him and tortured him, with the help a some a them African niggers, the Dahomeyans, who used to torture a dozen people before breakfast every day, according to what I heard. By the time Hacking heard of it and stopped it, Goring was dying. But he talked to Hacking, called him his soul brother and said he forgave him. Said he’d see him later along The River. Hacking was pretty shook up about it, from what his men said.”