should hold more
pressure than the valve had been originally adjusted for. Once this
was finished he chewed at his oily fingernails since there was nothing
else that could be done until the pressure built up again. The
D'zertanoj would rally, someone would take charge, and they would
attack the worksite. If they had enough steam before this happened,
they would escape. If not--

"Mikah, and you, too, you cowering slob Snarbi you, get behind this
thing and push," Jason said.

"What has happened," Mikah asked. "Have you started this revolution?
If so I will give no aid...."

"We're escaping, if that's all right with you. Just I, Ijale and a
guide to show us the way. You don't have to come--"

"I will join you. There is nothing criminal in escaping from these
barbarians."

"Very nice of you to say so. Now push. I want this steamobile in the
center, far from all the walls, and pointing towards the desert. Down
the valley I guess, is that right, Snarbi?"

"Down the valley, sure, that's the way." His voice was still rasping
from the earlier throttling, Jason was pleased to notice.

"Stop it here and everyone aboard. Grab onto those bars I've bolted
along the sides so you won't get bounced off, if we ever start moving
that is."

Jason took a quick look through his workshop to make sure everything
they might need was already loaded, then reluctantly climbed aboard
himself. He blew out the lantern and they sat there in the darkness,
their faces lit from below by the flickering glow from the firebox,
while the tension mounted. There was no way to measure time since each
second took an eternity to drag by.

The walls of the worksite cut off any view of the outside and within a
few moments imagination had peopled the night with silent hordes
creeping towards them, huddling about the thin barrier of leather,
ready to swoop down and crush them in an instant.

"Let's run for it," Snarbi gurgled and tried to jump from the
platform. "We're trapped here, we'll never get away...."

Jason tripped him and knocked him flat, then pounded his head against
the floor planks a few times until he quieted.

"I can sympathize with that poor man," Mikah said severely. "You are a
brute, Jason, to punish him for his natural feelings. Cease your
sadistic attack and join me in a prayer."

"If this poor man you are so sorry for had simply done his duty and
watched the boiler, we would all be safely away from here by now. And
if you have