[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
out something like this."
Raelle grinned. "I hope they had a little easier time getting their raw
materials."
One day the boat was complete. Framed of wood and bone, covered for the most
part with sea devil skins and the seams caulked with pitch, the narrow oval
craft was heavier than it looked. But as they carried it to the nearer river,
well above the junction, Jay no longer limped.
As they pushed off he knelt in the bow, Raelle in the stern though the two
ends were identical, interchangeable. At first they handled the paddles
awkwardly, making the boat yaw when one or the other lost the rhythm of their
mutual effort. But with practice they caught the knack and kept a straight,
smooth course. Only after several days of short expeditions upstream and back,
however, were they ready to put their skills to real use. Early one afternoon
as they pulled the boat safely clear of the river, Raelle said, "If we bring
everything down here today except the food, of course loading won't take long
tomorrow. We can get an early start."
"Yes. Fuel supply, here we come!"
Launched and tethered, then weighted with cargo, the boat sat low in the
water. "Pretty big load this time,"said Jay, "but we saw from above, the
Page 78
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
river's smooth all the way. And besides the equipment, we do need to start a
reserve food cache there."
They clambered aboard Jay shook the line loose from its stake and pulled it
in. Paddling, they turned the boat and pointed it downstream. Now, loaded, the
craft was more sluggish, less touchy to control. In a few minutes Raelle had
the hang of it, and compensated almost automatically for any imbalance in
Jay's more powerful strokes.
They reached the hills. Between higher and higher banks the river bed became
a shadowed cut. Current remained slow and steady only occasionally at the
sides, where material had fallen to obstruct the flow, did she see eddies.
Hypnotized by the monotonous action and quiet sounds of the current, she fell
into reverie. Where the river curved, it did so gradually. When one such curve
brought sunlight fully across the water, she realized they were nearly through
the hills.
She had no idea how long the trip had lasted. Then Jay pointed to their
right, to a pocket of sloping beach. They nosed the boat into it. When she
stood, and felt the protest of her cramped knees, she knew they had paddled
for longer than it seemed. Wading, Jay held the boat as she hobbled
ashore then, on soft sand that would not damage the hide covering, they
dragged it as far out of water as they could manage, before unloading. And
then they moved it well above high tide mark.
Now Raelle paused to look around her. Less than a kilometer away, beyond a
cut through one last craggy ridge, lay the sea. Here, above the narrow beach
the land rose, split by a small gully, to meet the valley floor between the
seaward ridge and the one behind them. Up the slope zigzagged a trail of
sorts brows raised, she pointed to it.
"The people on the ship, I suppose," said Jay. "I saw signs of them further
inland, too, but only for two or three kilometers."
She nodded. "Their camp is above here, in this valley?"
"Remains of a work camp, only. The ship was on the ocean beach if they ever
moved it except to leave the planet, we'll probably never find out. But above
here was their synthesizer operation that's where our fuel is, if we can
separate it out."
"That trail, though the gully looks like easier walking."
Jay grinned. "If you're immune to radiation, it is. Where do you think the
synthesizer's tailings washed down when it rained?"
"Oh, sure." Shrugging, she put on her personal pack; Jay did likewise. Each
also carried food for the cache they planned to start. They climbed up the
trail into the lateral valley the land here, and its vegetation, were much
like those at their own base. Then they turned left and ascended the seaward
ridge, not stopping until they were among the rocky crags that topped it.
There, out of sea devil range, they could eat and sleep safely. And first they
ate.
From their site, near the end of the crag wall, they could see beach and
ocean, the river and the terrain across it, the valley behind and the next
landward ridge. Jay pointed to a hillock near the gully similar to a number
of others except that this one was bare of vegetation. "That's our
contaminated fuel pile. I didn't spot it in daylight only when I saw it glow.
Should have, though nothing grows on it, and the grass around is stunted and
Page 79
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
sickly."
Raelle looked at it, and estimated its distance from the beach. "Jay it's too
far. We'll never move that down to water not when we don't dare get close.
Your dragline I had no idea!"
He shook his head. "I know. Oh, it'd work all right but if we tie up that
much of our monofilament line, we're in trouble. Especially as it might end up
too hot to salvage."
"Then how? "
"Basic idea's still good the remote control bucket open it, drag it across
the pile, close it, get it down to the edge above the sluice ditch and dump
it. Right? We just handle it a little differently, is all." He grinned. "You
and I move down past the pile, one on each side and well clear of danger with
a line strung between us and the bucket in the middle. We guide it down the
gully and stockpile where we'd planned."
"And from that point we could use ashort dragline." Now they considered other
changes in their plans trying to simplify, to hasten, to minimize effort. Then
after gathering firewood for evening they returned to the river beach, and
there Raelle saw a way by moving the pump site to make use of existing
contours to reduce the digging needed for their sluice ditch. "And if we set
up the pumpfirst . Jay the water will wash some of it out for us."
So they cut slim branches for supports, drove them deep in the ground,
measured angles and distances, notched other branches and tied them in place,
and lubricated the notches to serve as bearings with crushed, oily leaves left
from the cutting. At last they could mount the pump Archimedes' Screw and
assemble the huge varied water wheel to drive it.
The sun was low and Raelle felt hunger when they lowered the paddles into
water and secured the shaft. Quickly Jay strung belts around his pulleys for
trial purposes he omitted the remote control lines and merely hung a rock in a
bag attached to the idler pulley, to keep the pump engaged. Now they waited,
and were rewarded even such slow current, pushing against so much area,
produced rotation. Jay's pulley ratio gave the pump a faster turning river [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl ocenkijessi.opx.pl
out something like this."
Raelle grinned. "I hope they had a little easier time getting their raw
materials."
One day the boat was complete. Framed of wood and bone, covered for the most
part with sea devil skins and the seams caulked with pitch, the narrow oval
craft was heavier than it looked. But as they carried it to the nearer river,
well above the junction, Jay no longer limped.
As they pushed off he knelt in the bow, Raelle in the stern though the two
ends were identical, interchangeable. At first they handled the paddles
awkwardly, making the boat yaw when one or the other lost the rhythm of their
mutual effort. But with practice they caught the knack and kept a straight,
smooth course. Only after several days of short expeditions upstream and back,
however, were they ready to put their skills to real use. Early one afternoon
as they pulled the boat safely clear of the river, Raelle said, "If we bring
everything down here today except the food, of course loading won't take long
tomorrow. We can get an early start."
"Yes. Fuel supply, here we come!"
Launched and tethered, then weighted with cargo, the boat sat low in the
water. "Pretty big load this time,"said Jay, "but we saw from above, the
Page 78
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
river's smooth all the way. And besides the equipment, we do need to start a
reserve food cache there."
They clambered aboard Jay shook the line loose from its stake and pulled it
in. Paddling, they turned the boat and pointed it downstream. Now, loaded, the
craft was more sluggish, less touchy to control. In a few minutes Raelle had
the hang of it, and compensated almost automatically for any imbalance in
Jay's more powerful strokes.
They reached the hills. Between higher and higher banks the river bed became
a shadowed cut. Current remained slow and steady only occasionally at the
sides, where material had fallen to obstruct the flow, did she see eddies.
Hypnotized by the monotonous action and quiet sounds of the current, she fell
into reverie. Where the river curved, it did so gradually. When one such curve
brought sunlight fully across the water, she realized they were nearly through
the hills.
She had no idea how long the trip had lasted. Then Jay pointed to their
right, to a pocket of sloping beach. They nosed the boat into it. When she
stood, and felt the protest of her cramped knees, she knew they had paddled
for longer than it seemed. Wading, Jay held the boat as she hobbled
ashore then, on soft sand that would not damage the hide covering, they
dragged it as far out of water as they could manage, before unloading. And
then they moved it well above high tide mark.
Now Raelle paused to look around her. Less than a kilometer away, beyond a
cut through one last craggy ridge, lay the sea. Here, above the narrow beach
the land rose, split by a small gully, to meet the valley floor between the
seaward ridge and the one behind them. Up the slope zigzagged a trail of
sorts brows raised, she pointed to it.
"The people on the ship, I suppose," said Jay. "I saw signs of them further
inland, too, but only for two or three kilometers."
She nodded. "Their camp is above here, in this valley?"
"Remains of a work camp, only. The ship was on the ocean beach if they ever
moved it except to leave the planet, we'll probably never find out. But above
here was their synthesizer operation that's where our fuel is, if we can
separate it out."
"That trail, though the gully looks like easier walking."
Jay grinned. "If you're immune to radiation, it is. Where do you think the
synthesizer's tailings washed down when it rained?"
"Oh, sure." Shrugging, she put on her personal pack; Jay did likewise. Each
also carried food for the cache they planned to start. They climbed up the
trail into the lateral valley the land here, and its vegetation, were much
like those at their own base. Then they turned left and ascended the seaward
ridge, not stopping until they were among the rocky crags that topped it.
There, out of sea devil range, they could eat and sleep safely. And first they
ate.
From their site, near the end of the crag wall, they could see beach and
ocean, the river and the terrain across it, the valley behind and the next
landward ridge. Jay pointed to a hillock near the gully similar to a number
of others except that this one was bare of vegetation. "That's our
contaminated fuel pile. I didn't spot it in daylight only when I saw it glow.
Should have, though nothing grows on it, and the grass around is stunted and
Page 79
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
sickly."
Raelle looked at it, and estimated its distance from the beach. "Jay it's too
far. We'll never move that down to water not when we don't dare get close.
Your dragline I had no idea!"
He shook his head. "I know. Oh, it'd work all right but if we tie up that
much of our monofilament line, we're in trouble. Especially as it might end up
too hot to salvage."
"Then how? "
"Basic idea's still good the remote control bucket open it, drag it across
the pile, close it, get it down to the edge above the sluice ditch and dump
it. Right? We just handle it a little differently, is all." He grinned. "You
and I move down past the pile, one on each side and well clear of danger with
a line strung between us and the bucket in the middle. We guide it down the
gully and stockpile where we'd planned."
"And from that point we could use ashort dragline." Now they considered other
changes in their plans trying to simplify, to hasten, to minimize effort. Then
after gathering firewood for evening they returned to the river beach, and
there Raelle saw a way by moving the pump site to make use of existing
contours to reduce the digging needed for their sluice ditch. "And if we set
up the pumpfirst . Jay the water will wash some of it out for us."
So they cut slim branches for supports, drove them deep in the ground,
measured angles and distances, notched other branches and tied them in place,
and lubricated the notches to serve as bearings with crushed, oily leaves left
from the cutting. At last they could mount the pump Archimedes' Screw and
assemble the huge varied water wheel to drive it.
The sun was low and Raelle felt hunger when they lowered the paddles into
water and secured the shaft. Quickly Jay strung belts around his pulleys for
trial purposes he omitted the remote control lines and merely hung a rock in a
bag attached to the idler pulley, to keep the pump engaged. Now they waited,
and were rewarded even such slow current, pushing against so much area,
produced rotation. Jay's pulley ratio gave the pump a faster turning river [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]