Black Dragon Blues: The Complete Serial by Nichols Brent

Author:Nichols, Brent [Nichols, Brent]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2015-10-13T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Bega showed up at dawn. Molly was sipping coffee, for once not finding it too strong, and staring at the cricket. The name no longer matched, but she didn't know what else to call it. She'd never heard of anything like it, in nature or engineering.

He stared at the machine, then frowned at her. "You don't seem to be making very good progress."

"On the contrary. I'm almost finished." She was light-headed from lack of sleep, though the rising sun was helping. She gestured at the machine. "Isn't it beautiful?"

The cricket at that point consisted of two horizontal steel plates separated by springs that held them a foot or so apart. The boiler and steam engine were mounted on the top plate. The bent axle was just visible between the two plates, the chain running through a couple of holes cut in the top plate.

"It has no legs," he protested. "You're supposed to be making a walker!"

"Legs," she said airily, "are over-rated."

His eyebrows shot up, then plunged back down. "Legs are over-rated?"

Molly, distantly aware that her wits might not have been quite as sharp as they could be, suppressed a giggle and gestured to a sheet of armour plating lying on the ground nearby. "Flip that over with your foot," she said.

Bega scowled. "It weighs hundreds of pounds."

She shrugged. "So? It's not the weight that's the issue. It's the distribution. Come here." She led him over to the sheet of iron. "Watch this." And she shoved him with her hip. He staggered sideways, stumbled against the steel plate, and fell. An unwise giggle escaped her, and his hand went to the butt of his pistol.

"See?" she said. "You weigh as much as that sheet of metal. But you're easy to tip over." She waved an arm in the air, and his hand tightened on the gun. "Legs are over-rated."

He rose to his feet, his hand still on the pistol. "Speak sensibly," he said.

"Sorry." The stern look on his face was almost enough to send her into a fit of giggles, so she turned away, facing the cricket. Good God, how tired am I? Pull yourself together, Molly. "Vibration moves it. We're working on a way to control the direction. And we need a way to curl the bottom plate up at the edges. Otherwise it fills with dirt." She glanced back at Bega. Seeing the baffled scowl on his face, she said, "Never mind. Let me show you. Murat! Show the captain how it works."

Murat hopped onto the top platform, and the other men scrambled out of the way. He tugged on the thick lever, the chain clattered through the holes, and the boiler began to vibrate. The shaking was less than before. They had the gearboxes on the bottom plate now, where the vibration did the most good. The springs protected the upper part of the cricket, but the ride was still far from comfortable.

Bega said, "What is it—"

The cricket began to move. It drifted across the ground at

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.