While he waited for the weld to cool, Tarc went to the left wall and confirmed that the shelves there had a gap between them and the shelf the sword was resting on. He didn’t want anything he did with those shelves to jiggle the weld before it cooled. There was one place where he thought the shelves might touch, so he used his ghost to check. He found there was actually a gap. Satisfied, he started climbing the sturdy shelves to get the stuff down off the upper ones.
He found wispy material he thought was broken down paper and a great deal of partly degraded plastic. He looked through the plastic objects, saving a few because—though they weren’t presently useful due to the breakdown of the plastic they were made of—he thought they might be useful as models for making similar devices. Of course, that would depend on whether Eva could figure out what the plastic objects had been used for in the olden days. He found some scattered bits of metal, but most of them seemed to be metallic components of devices whose missing nonmetallic parts had biodegraded.
The motherlode was a stack of stainless-steel pipe on one of the top shelves. A few piles of rust suggested that there’d been some ordinary steel objects on that shelf as well.
He checked on Sarno and found that the wheelchair was nearly free of the dirt. Tarc helped him pull it loose. There were only scraps of ancient rubber left on the wheels, but he wondered whether it might still function without the rubber. The leather seat seemed fragile and the wheels wouldn’t turn, but Tarc felt pretty excited to be able to see how it had worked. And, maybe we can fix it.
He told Sarno to begin digging to the left of the wheelchair’s location where Tarc could sense a stretcher with twenty centimeter wheels. When Sarno frowned and asked why, Tarc just told him he had a feeling there were more stainless objects buried in that direction.
Tarc went back to the sword. It’d cooled and the gap had essentially vanished. To his surprise, he found that he was able to simultaneously heat spots on either side of the weld he’d already made. Once those had melted together, he left them to cool. Next, he went to the right wall of the room, climbing the shelves to search for anything else useful there.
Sarno swore with excitement when he encountered the buried stretcher. Tarc got down to look at what he’d uncovered, then told him to keep working
Tarc re-climbed the shelves. He found a heavy box. Its frail plastic began to crack when Tarc tried to move it. Gingerly popping open the lid, he felt a little tingle in his scalp when he saw it was divided into multiple compartments. Each compartment was filled with what looked like stainless-steel rods with hexagonal lumps on one end. At first, he thought they were riveting blanks, but then he noticed the little spiral ridges on the other end and realized they were bolts. A quick scan of the compartments showed him compartments full of hexagonal lumps with holes through them. He leaned close enough for his ghost to confirm that there was a spiral groove inside the holes that passed through the nuts.
Because—at least to the best of Tarc’s knowledge—no one had yet mastered a method for forming matching threads in metal, functional examples of the ancients’ nuts and bolts were very valuable.
Not wanting to disrupt the careful organization of the fasteners in the fragile plastic box, Tarc left them on the shelf until they could be collected in a compartmented wooden box.
He continued his search, finding some stainless-steel rods, angle iron, wire, and straps. Probably supplies for repairs, he thought.
He went back to the sword and carefully welded the rest of it around the three spot welds he’d already formed. This gave him quite a headache. If I weren’t such an idiot, he thought, I would’ve kept welding it a little bit at a time until I had it all done without getting a headache.
Daussie called down to say she was done. Tarc almost asked her what she was done with, then remembered what she’d been working on. She obviously couldn’t tell him in front of Sarno. Asking her to wait, Tarc measured the height and width of the uncovered part of the stainless steel stretcher. Deciding it should fit out through the hole he’d marked for Daussie to cut for the wheelchair, he climbed the rope up out of the room.
He was about to swing the sledgehammer at the area that still needed to be broken out when he realized some of the flying fragments might endanger Sarno. He leaned down into the room and found Sarno peering anxiously up at him. He realized Sarno might be worrying that Tarc was about to strand him down there “I’m going to hammer the opening a little bigger so we can get that wheeled chair and… whatever that thing is that you’re digging out now… out through the hole. You outta stand back so none of the fragments hit you.”
Sarno said, “Just a minute. I’m climbing out first.”
While Sarno was climbing out, Tarc looked over at Sarno’s erstwhile buddy. To Daussie, he said, “Do you mind checking on the other guy? Give him some water and bring us some too?”
She sighed as if terribly put upon, but climbed out of the pit. Sarno had to climb out of the pit as well to give Tarc room to swing the big hammer.
Tarc made short work out of enlarging the hole through the concrete Daussie’d weakened. He looked around and saw Daussie and Sarno both over talking to the other guy. Tarc climbed out of the pit and walked over there himself.
Sarno looked up as Tarc approached. Uncertainly, he said, “Carlos says he’d like to help.”
Tarc looked at the guy, presumably Carlos. The man did look much more subdued. Tarc glanced at Daussie who looked dubious. “What do you think?” he asked her.
Daussie shrugged, “Maybe? I’d feel a lot better if he’d been Kazy’d.”
Tarc blinked a couple of moments, not understanding what Daussie was saying, then realized she wanted Kazy to tell them whether Carlos had really changed his attitude or not. Tarc turned back to Carlos, “We’re just going to let you go today. If you’re waiting here tomorrow when we come back, we might hire you on for the next day. Same weight of copper we’re paying Keller.”
Carlos nodded, then leaned to the side so Tarc could untie him.
Untied and rubbing his wrists, Carlos said, “Can I have my sword back?”
Tarc gave him a disbelieving look. “You tried to stab me with it! No way I’m giving it back to you. Besides, you know it broke, right?”
A flash of anger crossed Carlos’s face but then he slumped a little and nodded. “I’ll be here in the morning,” he said. He turned and started back to the road.
Tarc suddenly realized that getting the wheelchair and stretcher up out of the room was going to be difficult. “Carlos, wait. We need your help. Not for digging, just to help us lift some stuff up out of the room.”
Carlos nodded eagerly and Tarc negotiated a price in coppers for Carlos’ help.
Tarc and Carlos climbed down into the room, Carlos looking around wonderingly. Daussie and Keller threw down one end of the rope Carlos had been tied up with.
Tarc and Carlos took turns trying bundles of stainless steel pipes, bars, angle irons etc. to the rope for Daussie and Keller to haul up out of the hole.
Tarc started maneuvering the wheelchair into position for them to pull it up out of the hole as well. Carrying it was incredibly clumsy. He decided it’d be far too unwieldy to load onto one of the mules. He explained this to Daussie, saying, “We’re going to have to rent a wagon and come back for some of the stuff.”
Tarc had Keller climb down into the room and told the two men he wanted them to keep digging out the stretcher Keller had been working on. “I’m going to climb out and help Daussie load the mules with the stuff we already hauled out.”
Keller spoke quietly, “I appreciate you trusting me enough to let me be alone up there with your sister.”
Tarc stared at him for a moment, then glanced over at the intently listening Carlos. Tarc said, “She’s been trained in the ancient fighting arts just like I have. But, she doesn’t have very good control. She hasn’t been able to master gentle strikes like the Eustachian blow.” Tarc paused a moment to give the words that followed a little
more weight, then said, “That means, that she can’t just smack you dizzy like I did. If you’d attacked her she would’ve had to kill you.” He shook his head, “Be very careful around her.”
He glanced back and forth at the two men, catching surprised, though dubious looks on their faces. After a moment Keller swallowed nervously. Tarc thought he wouldn’t be a threat. Carlos… Tarc wasn’t so sure about him.
Tarc climbed up out of the hole. Turning to Daussie, he said, “I’m worried about leaving that big opening with the wheelchair and stretcher just sitting down there. You think we should take this stuff home and try to find a wagon so we can come back for the rest this evening?”
Daussie shrugged, “If we’re going to be doing this for a while, it’s going to be a persistent problem. We need to figure out how to lock this place up.”
Tarc gave her a surprised look, then turned back to study the big opening. Musingly, he said, “I guess we could get a blacksmith to make a gate to cover the opening. It wouldn’t be too hard to rivet it to the concrete since you could just drill some holes through the wall for long rivets, but it’d take days, maybe weeks, for a blacksmith to make us the gate.”
Daussie gave him a look, “Come on. You just pulled up all that metal. Didn’t you weld that sword together?”
Tarc brightened, “Yeah. It worked really well. Though, of course, I haven’t tried hitting anything with it to see how strong the weld is.” He shrugged, “It might break the first time it’s used.” He realized Daussie was looking at him expectantly. “Oh. You’re thinking I could just weld a gate together out of the stainless steel we pulled up out of there?”
Daussie nodded.
Tarc shook his head. “I got a pounding headache just welding that little area on the sword. I don’t even want to think about welding a whole bunch of spots.”
“Think of something better then,” Daussie said dismissively. “I’m going to go start trying to pack this stuff to go on the mules.”
Tarc turned to study the hole. After a few minutes, he went and got one of the heavy duty stainless steel pipes they’d lifted out. Holding it up to the hole, he saw it bridged the opening, top to bottom, with plenty to spare. “Daussie,” he called, “I’ve got an idea, but I’d need your help. Come have a look?”
They crouched in the pit, looking at the opening in the concrete. Tarc sketched his idea out in the dirt. Daussie’d make a vertical hole into the concrete at the top and the bottom of the opening. The holes would be big enough for the ends of one of the pipes to slide into. They’d slide the pipe into the bottom hole, straighten it up to vertical, then slide the top end up into the top hole. With four pipes blocking the opening, they’d serve like jail bars without enough space for anyone to get through.
Daussie frowned, “What keeps the pipe from falling back down into the bottom of the hole where a robber can just lift it back out?”
Tarc grinned, “There’s a box of bolts on one of the shelves down there. You make smaller horizontal holes out of the main hole at the level of the bottom of the pipe. I’ll use my ghost to slide bolts into them to block the pipe from going back down.”
Daussie chewed her lip, “I guess that’d work. I’ll try making a hole.”
Tarc said, “First send your ghost into the concrete—”
“Ghirit,” Daussie interrupted.
Tarc rolled his eyes, “Sorry, ghirit. Send it in. You’ll feel some steel bars inside the concrete. Henry Roper explained them to me. They’re reinforcing-bars or rebar. You’ve just been cutting them when you’ve been weakening the concrete for me, but this time try to make your holes so they’re between the bars so the concrete’ll still be strong.”
“Okay,” Daussie said. She studied the end of the pipe for a moment, then lowered her head down to the bottom of the opening. About half a minute later, she lifted her head and said, “Okay, I cut it. Try lifting it out.”
Tarc leaned down and looked. There was a faint circular line in the concrete. He sent in his ghost and could tell there was actually a separation around a cylinder of concrete he thought was about as big around as the pipe. But it’s such a tight fit, he thought, am I going to be able to slide it out? He grabbed it with his ghost and lifted, wondering at the last moment if she’d remembered to cut the bottom of the cylinder free. It lifted readily enough, suggesting that she had. However, it only lifted a few millimeters before the incredibly snug fit created sufficient vacuum beneath it to make it hard to lift any farther. He grabbed it with his fingers and let go with his ghost. Tugging on it was still difficult, the vacuum causing a springy sensation. Having felt that sensation while trying to use his mother’s ancient glass syringe, Tarc recognized the vacuum for what it was. Keeping a grip on the cylinder, he turned to Daussie. “The fit’s so tight air isn’t getting in around the cylinder. I’m having trouble pulling it out. Can you port out a tiny opening that air can get in through?”
Daussie leaned closer and the cylinder suddenly pushed part of the way out. “What just happened,” he asked, puzzled, as he pulled it the rest of the way out.
“I just ported some air in underneath it.”
Of course you did, Tarc thought, wondering why he hadn’t thought of that. He picked up the pipe and tried to slide it into the hole. The hole was big enough—barely—but he couldn’t get it in because he couldn’t get the right angle with the upper part of the opening blocking the pipe from coming into the correct alignment.
He started to turn to Daussie. She said, “I see the problem. Hold the pipe at that angle.” She leaned her head close again.
Tarc expected her to widen the opening leaving them with a visibly sloppy fit which he thought would be inelegant but functional. Instead, when she leaned back and he moved the pipe, the hole looked the same, “What’d you do?”
“Made it bigger down inside.” She pointed down in at an angle parallel to the way the pipe had been leaning. “But you’ve got some pieces of concrete to pull out before you can put the pipe in.”
Tarc sent in his ghost and saw that she’d first cut free a cylinder along the direction the pipe would need to be slid in. Then she’d cut away the bumps that’d been left between the first cylinder and the angled cylinder. He used his ghost to lift the fragments up high enough to grab them with his fingers and pull them out the rest of the way. Then he easily slipped the pipe back in the hole and tilted it upright. He slid it up until it was touching the top of the opening in the concrete.
Daussie said, “Hold it there.” While he did so, she leaned her head close. After what seemed to be about half a minute she leaned back. Tarc started to pull the pipe out but met resistance. He realized the cylinder of concrete in the upper hole was falling down and dragging against the top of the pipe. He used his ghost to lift it, leaned the pipe back, then caught the cylinder of concrete with his left hand as it fell out. He thought, She must’ve ported some air in above it or the vacuum would have held it in. He leaned the pipe back to vertical and slid it up into the hole. A couple of jerks proved it to be solid. Turning to Daussie, he said, “I’m gonna climb down in there and get some bolts. You can start cutting the lower hole for the next pipe.”
Daussie rubbed her head. “I’ve got to take a break. I’ve got a tiny headache and I’m sure it’ll get a lot worse if I start right in on cutting more holes.”
“No problem,” Tarc said, getting a grip on the rope and starting down into the big room. When he turned around, he found the two men staring nervously at him.
Keller said, “Are you trying to trap us in here?”
Tarc looked back up at the opening and realized what it must have looked like to the two of them. He gave a little laugh and said, “No. Sorry. I can see how it probably looked.” He looked over at the stretcher they’d been digging out. It was mostly free. “I think you guys have done enough for today. You can take off if you want to.”
Sounding concerned, Keller said, “And we come back tomorrow morning?”
Tarc nodded.
Embarrassed, Tarc dug in his pocket and gave Keller the last of his coppers—enough to buy a substantial meal. “I’ll have more for you tomorrow, okay?”
Keller nodded and the two men turned to the rope and began climbing out.
Tarc climbed the shelves and looked in the plastic box, picking out a set of substantial bolts. Climbing back down, he went to get the sword, eager to see how it’d turned out.
It was gone…
Tarc tore across the room and swarmed up the rope.
When Tarc burst up out of the hole, Sarno stood about fifteen feet away, hands up in surrender. He said something about how he’d had nothing to do with it, but Tarc ignored him as he started to run, attention focused on Carlos and Daussie. They were just turning right around some brush and stepping up onto the road. The turn let Tarc see Carlos holding the point of his sword against Daussie’s back.
Telepath (A Hyllis Family Story #4) Page 21