At least I have two unblemished guntubes. I had hoped for several tendays of testing --" Woodcarver interrupted, "-- but that is something we can't afford now." She came completely to her feet and looked all around the council room. "I want full-size testing immediately. If it's successful, we'll start making gun tubes as fast as we can." And if not... Two days later... The funniest thing was that Scrupilo expected her to inspect the gun tube before he fired it. The pack walked excitedly around the rig, explaining things in awkward Samnorsk. Johanna followed, frowning seriously. Some meters off, mostly hidden behind a berm, Woodcarver and her High Council were watching the exercise. Well,
复件 (98) air max, the thing looked real enough. They'd mounted it on a small cart that could roll back into a pile of dirt under the recoil force. The tube itself was a single cast piece of metal about a meter long with a ten-centimeter bore. Gunpowder and shot went in the front end. The powder was ignited through a tiny firehole at the rear. Johanna ran her hand along the barrel. The leaden surface was bumpy, and there seemed be pieces of dirt caught in the metal. Even the walls of the bore were not completely smooth; would that make a difference? Scrupilo was explaining how he had used straw in the molds to keep the metal from cracking as it cooled. Yecco. "You should try it out with small amounts of gunpowder first," she said. Scrupilo's voice became a bit conspiratorial, more focused, "Just between you me,
复件 (86) air max2, I did that. It went very good. Now for big test." Hmm. So you're not a complete flake. She smiled at the nearest of him, a member with no black at all in his head fur. In a kooky way, Scrupilo reminded her of some the scientists at the High Lab. Scrupilo stepped back from the cannon and said loudly, "It is all okay to go now?" Two of him were looking nervously at the High Councillors beyond the berm. "Um, yes, it looks fine to me." And of course it should. The design was copied straight from Nyjoran models in Johanna's history files. "But be careful -- if it doesn't work right, it could kill anybody nearby." "Yes, yes." Having gotten her official endorsement, Scrupilo swept around the piece and shooed Johanna toward the sidelines. As she walked back to Woodcarver,
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HIIT 15 ClassStretch 10 Class, no doubt explaining the test. "Do you think it will work?" Woodcarver asked her quietly. She seemed even more feeble than usual. They had spread a woven mat for her, on the mossy heather behind the berm. Most of her lay quietly, heads between paws. The blind one looked asleep; the young drooler cuddled against it, twitching nervously. As usual Peregrine Wickwrackscar was nearby,
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mbt tupu shoes, but he wasn't translating now. All his attention was on Scrupilo. Johanna thought of the straw that Scrupilo had used in the molds. Woodcarver's people were really trying to help, but.... She shook her head, "I -- who knows." She came to her knees and looked over the berm. The whole thing looked like a circus act from a history file. There were the performing animals, the cannon. There was even the circus tent: Vendacious had insisted on hiding the operation from possible spies in the hills. The enemy might see something, but the longer Steel lacked details the better. The Scrupilo pack hustled around the cannon, talking all the time. Two of him hauled up a keg of black powder and he began pushing the stuff down the barrel. A wad of silkpaper followed the powder down the barrel. He tamped it into place, then loaded the cannon ball. At the same time, the rest of him pushed the cart around to point out of the tent.