Dragon and Slave

CHAPTER 8

"Listen up," Fleck said, glaring down at Jack. "I'm only going to explain this once."

"Yes, sir," Jack said, using the meekest voice and manner in his repertoire.

Up close, Fleck was even uglier than he'd looked across the sleeping hut. His tanned face had tiny pockmarks all across it like the craters on an asteroid, his eyes were bulging and bloodshot, and his beard seemed to be going bald in spots.

He was also bigger than he'd seemed. It would probably be smart to stay on his good side.

"All right." Fleck waved along the line of bushes, which were growing so close together that they were practically a hedge all by themselves. "These are the rainbow berry bushes."

He reached to the nearest of the stubby branches and swung it up, exposing the neat row of fingernail-sized berries clinging to its underside. "And this," he said, pointing to one of them, "is a ripe berry. You see the color pattern, the way the red at the stem blends into yellow, and then into green and blue?"

"Yes," Jack said, trying hard not to be sarcastic. It was pretty obvious, actually.

"Yeah, I know—it's obvious," Fleck growled. "But this part isn't."

He turned the berry over in his thick fingers. "Look here in the middle of the blue. See that little dot of purple? That's very important."

He turned the berry back around. "So is this ring of little bumps right where it connects to the stem. You don't have both of those, you don't have a ripe berry, and you leave it be. Got it?"

"Got it," Jack said, nodding. Okay; so it wasn't quite as simple as it had first looked.

"I hope so," Fleck said warningly. "Because if you mess up, the Brummgas will catch it. And then you'll be in trouble."

"Like I'm not already," Jack muttered under his breath. "What was that?"

"I said I got it," Jack said aloud. "This isn't exactly brain surgery, you know."

"And you're not exactly a brain surgeon, are you?" Fleck pointed out. "Here's your bowl."

He handed Jack a container that looked like an extra-deep pie pan with a long leather strap strung between two points on the rim. "You want me to show you how to use it?"

"I think I can figure it out," Jack said. He looped the strap around his neck, letting the container rest against his stomach. "Close enough?"

"I guess maybe you are a brain surgeon," Fleck said sarcastically. "Just one more thing."

He plucked the berry he'd identified as ripe and set it down gently into Jack's bowl. "Don't just toss it into the bowl. You do that, you're likely to crush the ones on the bottom. Damaged berries get you in trouble with the Brummgas, too."

He took a step closer to Jack, looming over him like an especially unfriendly rain cloud. "And if you're in trouble with the Brummgas, you're in trouble with me. Got it?"

Jack grimaced. Staying on Fleck's good side might be harder than he'd thought.

"Got it."

"Then get to work."

Turning, he stalked away. "Don't worry about Fleck," Maerlynn said, stepping over to Jack's side. "He talks grouchy, but mostly he's all right. Go ahead and get started—I'll watch and see how you do."

She watched for ten minutes before she seemed convinced he did indeed have the hang of it. "You're doing fine," she said. "I'll be down the line over here.

If you have any questions, just ask."

"I will," Jack said. "Thanks."

She headed away along the edge of the bushes, toward where Jack could see Noy and Lisssa picking. "I still think you could build a robot to do this," Jack muttered, turning back to his bush. "You could at least make a scanner to help out."

"Perhaps it is a hammer problem," Draycos suggested from his shoulder.

Jack turned one of the berries over. No purple spot. "What's a hammer problem?" he asked, moving on to the next berry in line.

"It is from one of the sayings Uncle Virge has quoted to me," the dragon said.

'When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.' "

"Yeah, he quotes that one to me, too," Jack said. This one had both the purple spot and the bump pattern. Plucking it from its stem, he put it in his bowl.

"If you've got a whole bunch of slaves, everything you're doing looks like it ought to be done by slave labor. That's more or less what I said yesterday."

"I am merely confirming your reasoning," Draycos said. "I went out and examined the wall last night." "Great," Jack said. "I was going to suggest that, but I fell asleep before I could talk to you. How's it look?"

"Every bit as dangerous as our examination from the Essenay indicated," the dragon said. "I do not believe we will be able to escape that way."

Jack shrugged. "No problem," he said. "I was expecting we'd have to go out through the gate anyway."

"True," Draycos said. "On the other hand, you also expected we would be leaving by today at the latest."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Jack growled, glaring down his freshly-washed shirt at the dragon's snout, draped across his collarbone.

"This is just a little setback."

"Of course," Draycos said.

"And sarcasm won't help, either."

"I was not being sarcastic," the dragon protested. "The good news is that there do not seem to be any patrols in the slave area. That means we will have freedom of movement."

"That could be handy," Jack agreed. "Anything else? Wait a second," he interrupted himself softly. Out of the corner of his eye, he had picked up movement.

"Hey, Jack," Noy's voice came from that direction. "How are you doing?"

"Okay, I guess," Jack said, turning around. "It's not that hard."

"No," Noy said doubtfully, peering into Jack's bowl. "But you're going to have to work faster than that if you want to eat tonight."

Jack frowned. "What?"

"You have to fill your bowl by dinnertime," Noy explained. "Otherwise, no dinner. Didn't Fleck tell you?"

Jack looked off to the left. Fleck was off in the distance, pacing back and forth behind a group of Jantris. "No, he didn't tell me," he growled. "How full does it have to be?"

"Up to here," Noy said, pointing to a line about half an inch below the rim of the container.

"Got it," Jack said, a sinking feeling swirling in the pit of his stomach as he stared into the nearly empty bowl. "Then what?"

"You take your bowl over there," Noy said, pointing to a pair of tables set up in the shade of a tall tree. "The Brummgas show up between five thirty and six.

You bring them a full bowl, and they give you a meal ticket."

"A what?"

"A meal ticket," Noy repeated. "It's a little metal square you can trade in for dinner in the meal hall."

"And no ticket, no dinner?"

"Right," Noy said. "So I'd better let you get back to work. I just wanted to say hi."

"Thanks," Jack said. "And thanks for the warning."

"No problem," Noy said, moving away. "See you later."

He wandered off toward another spot in the tangle of bushes, stopping every few feet to check the nearest branches. "That was awfully nice of Fleck, wasn't that?" Jack muttered toward his shoulder as he turned back to his work. "Perhaps there was no malice intended," Draycos suggested. "He may merely have forgotten to tell you."

"You don't even believe that one yourself," Jack said. "The guy just thought it would be funny for me to listen to my stomach growl all night."

He stopped short, a jolt of conscience suddenly hitting him. "Which reminds me... I didn't save you any of my food last night. I'm sorry."

"That is all right," Draycos assured him. "There was no practical way you could have done so with Maerlynn and the others watching."

"I know, but..." Jack ran out of words.

"Do not worry about me, Jack," Draycos said into the awkward silence. "I am a poet-warrior of the K'da. I am accustomed to hardship in the line of duty.

You must not worry about me, but keep your full attention on the task at hand.

Agreed?"

Jack sighed. "Agreed."

"Good," Draycos said. "I am working on a plan that I believe will allow us to move undetected into the Chookoock family grounds. From that point, it will be up to you."

"Okay," Jack said. He'd finished the upper branches of this particular bush; kneeling down on the soft ground, he started checking the lower ones. "From that I assume the hedge is wired?"

"Yes," Draycos said. "The gap we were brought through has many sensors attached.

How did you know?"

"Because an open gap like that is about as obvious as an elephant at an anteaters' tea party," Jack said with sniff. "These Brummgas are not exactly mental giants. I hope you aren't going to try to disarm them by yourself."

"I am not going to disarm them at all," Draycos said. "I have begun carving a tunnel through the base of the hedge at a secluded location."

"There'll still be all the rest of the grounds to get though after that,"

Jack pointed out.

"True," Draycos said. "As I said, that part is up to you."

Jack snorted. "Thanks. Loads."