“Let’s hope we’re not tone-deaf,” Luvah said. “Do you think we really have a chance?”
“With what I have in mind, I think there is,” Wolff replied. “Just now, today, I want to think of other things. There are the spacesuits to work on for instance. We’ll have to wear them while in the gondola, since we can’t rely on the gondola being too airtight.”
The fulminate of mercury for the explosive caps was made. This was a dark-brown powder formed by reaction of mercury, alcohol, and concentrated nitric acid.
The nitric acid, which oxidized sulfur to sulfuric acid, was obtained through a series of steps. The sodium nitrate, gotten by crystallization from the bird droppings and human excrement, was heated with sulfuric acid. (The sulfuric acid was derived by burning sulfur with saltpeter, that is, potassium or sodium nitrate.)
Free nitrogen of the air was “fixed” by combining it with hydrogen (from the gas bladders) to form ammonia. The ammonia was mixed with oxygen (from an oxygen-producing bladder) at the correct temperature. The mixture was passed over a fine wire gauge made from smooth compact platinum to catalyze for catalysis.
The resulting nitrogen oxides were absorbed in water; the dilute acid was gotten by concentration through distillation.
The materials for the furnaces and containers and pipes were furnished by the vitreous stuff from the planet of skaters.
Black gunpowder was made from charcoal, sulfur, and the saltpeter.
Wolff also succeeded in making ammonium nitrate, a blasting powder of considerable power.
One day Vala said, “Don’t you think that you’re making far too many explosives? We can’t take more than a fraction on the ship. Otherwise, the ship’ll never get off the ground.”
“That’s true,” he replied. “Maybe you were also wondering why I’ve stocked the explosives at widely separated locations. That’s because gunpowder is unstable. If one pile goes up, the others won’t be affected.”
Some of the Lords paled. Rintrah said, “You mean the explosives we’ll be taking on the ship could go off at any time?”
“Yes. That’s one more chance we’ll be taking. None of this is easy or safe, you know. But I’d like to add a possibly cheering note. It is ironic and laughable, if we succeed, that Urizen himself has supplied the materials for his own undoing. He has furnished us with the basic weapons which might overthrow his supertechnology.”
“If we live, we’ll laugh,” Rintrah said. “I think, however, that Urizen will be the laugher.”
“Old Earth proverb: We’ll at least give him a run for his money. Another proverb: He who laughs last laughs best.”
That night Wolff went to Luvah’s hut. Luvah woke up swiftly on feeling Wolffs hand on his shoulder. He started to draw the knife made of flint from the tempusfudger planet. Wolff said, “I’m here to talk, not kill. Luvah, you are the only one I can trust to help me. And I need help.”
“I am honored, brother. You are by far the best man among us. And I know that you are not about to propose treachery.”
“Part of what I plan may seem at first to be treachery. But it is necessary. Listen carefully, young brother.”
Within the hour, they left the hut. Carrying digging and hacking tools, they went to the hill on which stood the twin gates. Here they were met by twenty natives, all of whom Wolff was sure he could trust. They began cutting and digging through the tangle of decayed vegetation and bladder roots that formed the island. All worked swiftly and hard, so that by the time the moon had passed and taken night with it, they had completed a trench around the hill. They kept on working until there was only a few inches of roots to go before coming to the water level. Then the natives placed ammonium nitrate and fulminate caps in the trench. When this was done, they threw in the chopped up roots and dirt and made an attempt to cover the signs of excavation.
“Anybody can see at a glance that digging has been done here,” Wolff said. “I’m banking on nobody coming here, however. I told all of you that today would be a rest day so that you wouldn’t rise until late.”