At this time over five hundred blacks from Parolando had been exchanged for an equal number of Dravidians. Sam had steadfastly refused to accept the Wahhabi Arabs, or at least had insisted that the Asiatic Indians come first. Hacking apparently did not like this, but nothing had been said in the agreement about which group had priority.
Hacking, having heard from his spies about Iyeyasu’s demands, sent a message. He wanted a Firedragon, too, and he was willing to exchange a great amount of minerals for it.
Publius Crassus and Tai Fung allied to invade the area across The River from them. This was occupied by Stone Age peoples from everywhere and every time and stretched for fourteen miles along the left bank. With their superior steel weapons and numbers, the invaders killed half the population and enslaved the rest. And they upped their price for the wood but kept it below Iyeyasu’s.
Spies reported that Chernsky, who ruled the fourteenmile-long nation just north of Parolando, had made a visit to Soul City. What happened there was anybody’s guess, since Hacking had set up a security system that seemed to be one hundred percent effective. Sam had gotten in eight blacks to spy for him, and he knew that John had sent in at least a dozen. The heads of all were tossed from boats in the mists late at night onto the top of the wall along the bank of Parolando.
Van Boom came to Sam late one night and said that Firebrass had cautiously approached him.
“He offered me the position of chief engineer on the boat,” Van Boom said.
“He offered it to you?” Sam said, his cigar almost dropping.
“Yes. He didn’t say so in so many words, but I got the idea. The Riverboat will be taken over by the Soul Citizens, and I will be chief engineer.”
“And what did you say about his fine offer? After all, you can’t lose, either way.”
“I told him not to etch a pseudocircuit. Come out and say it. He wouldn’t, though he grinned, and I told him I hadn’t sworn any oath of loyalty to you, but I had accepted your offer and that was as good. I wasn’t going to betray you, and if Soul City invaded Parolando, I’d defend it to the death.”
“That’s fine, superb!” Sam said. “Here, have a snort of bourbon! And a cigar! I’m proud of you and proud of myself, to command such loyalty. But I wish … I wish …” Van Boom looked over the cup. “Yes?”
“I wish you’d strung him along. We could have found out a lot with you feeding us information.”
Van Boom put the cup down and stood up. His handsome brown features were ugly. “I am not a dirty spy!”
“Come back!” Sam said, but Van Boom ignored him. Sam buried his head in his arms for a minute and then picked up Van Boom’s cup. Never let it be said that Samuel Langhorne Clemens wasted good whiskey. Or even bad, for that matter. Although the grail never yielded any but the best.
The man’s lack of realism irritated him. At the same time, he had a counterfeeling of warm pleasure. It was good to know that incorruptible men existed. At least, Sam did not have to worry about Van Boom.
23
In the middle of the night, he awoke wondering if he did have to worry after all. What if Van Boom was not as upright as he said? What if the clever Firebrass had told Van Boom to go to Clemens with his story? What better way to put a man off his guard? But then it would have been better if Van Boom had pretended to Sam that he was pretending to go along with Firebrass.
“I’m beginning to think like King John!” Sam said aloud.
He finally decided that he had to trust Van Boom. He was stiff and sometimes a little strange, which was what you’d expect from an engineer, but he had a moral backbone as inflexible as a fossilized dinosaur’s.
The work on the great Riverboat went on day and night. The plates of the hull were bonded, and the beams were welded on. The batacitor and the giant electric motors were built, and the work of the transportation system of the cranes and engines was ended. The cranes themselves were enormous structures on huge rails, powered by electricity from the prototype batacitor. People came from thousands of miles up and down The River, in catamarans, big galleys, dugouts and canoes, to see the fabulous works.