The Fabulous Riverboat by Phillip Jose Farmer

“It’s a lot more work and responsibility! Now, I like the idea of flying again, and …”

“You can fly! You can fly! But you’d have to serve under von Richthofen. You see, I promised him that he would be the chief of our air force, which, after all, will only consist of two planes. What do you care whether or not you’re the chief, as long as you get to fly?”

“It’s a matter of pride. I have thousands of hours more flying time than Richthofen, in planes far more complex and bigger and speedier. And I was an astronaut. I’ve been to the Moon and Mars and Ganymede and orbited Jupiter.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Sam said. “The planes you’ll be flying are very primitive. More like the World War I machines that Lothar flew.” “Why does a nigger always have to take second place?” “That’s unfair!” Sam said. “You could be chief

ngineer! You’d have thirty-five people under your command! Listen, if I hadn’t made Lothar that promise, you’d get the captaincy, believe me!”

Firebrass stood up. “I’ll tell you what I’ll help you build the boat and set up the training of your engineer’s department. But I get to fly during that time, too, and when the time comes we’ll talk about who’s going to be head of the air force.” “I won’t break my promise to Lothar,” Sam said.

“Yes, but many things may happen between now and then.”

Sam was relieved in one way but disturbed in another. Hacking gave his permission, via drum, to use Firebrass. This suggested he wanted Firebrass to know the boat’s operation because he would be serving Hacking as chief engineer some day. And even if this was not being considered by Firebrass, he might be planning to remove von Richthofen before the boat was ready for launching. Firebrass did not seem like a cold-blooded murderer but looks meant nothing, as anyone with intelligence finds out if he has lived a few years among the human race.

Hacking sent word a few days later that he would agree to an extra large shipment of minerals in Parolando in return for the AMP-1. Firebrass flew it the thirty-one miles to the northern limit of Soul City, where another flier, a black who had been a general in the U.S. Air Force, took it over. A few days later, Firebrass returned by sailboat.

The batacitor and the electric motors worked perfectly. The paddle-wheels turned over slowly in the air, then were speeded up, the vanes whistling they spun so swiftly.

When the time came, a canal would be dug from the water’s edge to the great boat, and it would wheel out into The River under its own power.

Lothar von Richtofen and Gwenafra were not getting along at all. Lothar had always been a “lady killer,” and he could not seem to help flirting. More often than not, he followed up the flirtation. Gwenafra had some definite ideas about fidelity with which Lothar agreed, in principle.

It was the practice that tripped him up.

Hacking sent word that he intended to visit Parolando himself in two days. He wanted to hold a series of conferences on their trade, to check on the well-being of Parolando’s black citizens and to see the great Riverboat.

Sam sent word back that he would be happy to receive Hacking. He wasn’t, but the essence of diplomacy was dissimulation. The preparations for housing Hacking and his large entourage and setting up the conferences occupied Sam so that he did not get much chance to supervise the work on the boat.

Also, special preparations had to be made for docking the large number of ore boats from Soul City. Hacking was sending three times as much as the normal shipment to show his sincerity of desire for peace and understanding. Sam would have preferred that the shipments be spaced out, but then it was desirable to get as much as possible in as short a time as possible. The spies said that Iyeyasu was collecting several large fleets and a great number of fighting men on both sides of The River. And he had sent more messages to Selinujo to stop trying to land their missionaries on his territory.