Babel-17 by Delany Samuel R

Author:Delany, Samuel R. [Delany, Samuel R.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781480461840
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2014-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

2

SHE LEANED ON THE catwalk railing to watch the activity in the cradle of the loading dock curving below. “Slug, take the kids down to give a hand with those carter-winches. Tarik said they could use some help.”

Slug guided the platoon to the chairlift that dropped into Jebel’s pit:

“…all right, when you get down there, go over to that man in the red shirt and ask him to put you to work. Yeah, work. Don’t look so surprised, stupid. Kile, strap yourself in, will you. It’s two hundred and fifty feet down and a little hard on your head if you fall. Hey, you two, cut it out. I know he started first. Just get down there and be constructive…”

Rydra watched machinery and organic supplies—Alliance and Invader—handed in from the dismantling crews that worked over the ruins of the two ships, and their swarm of cruisers. The stacked, sorted crates were piled along the loading area.

“We’ll be jettisoning the cruiser ships shortly. I’m afraid the Rimbaud will have to go, too. Is there anything you’d like to salvage before we dump it, Captain?” She turned at Tarik’s voice.

“There are some important papers and recordings I have to get. I’ll leave my platoon here and take my officers with me.”

“Very well.” Tarik joined her at the railing. “As soon as we finish here, I’ll send a work crew with you in case there’s anything large you want to bring back.”

“That won’t be…” she begun. “Oh, I see. You need fuel, don’t you.”

Tarik nodded. “And stasis components; also spare parts for our own spider-boats. We will not touch the Rimbaud until you have finished with it.”

“I see. I guess that’s only fair.”

“I’m impressed,” Tarik went on to change the subject, “with your method of breaking the Invader’s defense net. That particular formation has always given us some trouble. The Butcher tells me you tore it apart in less than five minutes, and we only lost one spider. That’s a record. I didn’t know you were a master strategist as well as a poet. You have many talents. It is lucky that Butcher took your call, though. I would not have had sense enough to follow your instructions just on the spur of the moment. Had the results not been so praiseworthy, I would have been put out with him. But, then, his decisions have never yet brought me less than profit.” He looked across the pit.

On a suspended platform in the center, the ex-convict lounged, silent overseer to the operations below.

“He’s a curious man,” Rydra said. “What was he in prison for?”

“I have never asked,” Tarik said, raising his chin. “He has never told me. There are many curious persons on Jebel. And privacy is important in so small a space. Oh, yes. In a month’s time you will learn how tiny the Mountain is.”

“I forgot myself,” Rydra apologized. “I shouldn’t have inquired.”

An entire foresection of a blasted Invader’s cruiser was being dragged through the funnel on a twenty-foot wide, pronged conveyor. Dismantlers swarmed up the side with bolt punches and laser spots.

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