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stared at the hut and the space around it, then shook his head. "I don't know.
Let's eat and then go toSearch before dark, and spend the night there."
Raelle's fists clenched. "Iwon't give up what we've built."
"Neither will I. The only thing is, we need to look over our resources and
see what's best to do."
Next morning, after considerable discussion, they began to do it. Some sort
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of electric fence seemed the best solution the details did not come so easily.
The source was simple enough the Skip exciter used high voltage pulses. Jay
disconnected that output from the exciter itself and brought the lead outside
the unit. "Now," he said, "how do we use it?"
"The wire you brought is there enough?"
"And more. But that insulation's tough and melting point nearly as high as
the metal itself. It'd take us a month to strip enough for the perimeter we
need but we may have to do just that."
"May I have some to experiment with?"
"Sure. And I'll be running the alarm and control circuitry no matter how we
work the rest of it, we'll need that." He cut off a few turns for her, got out
a tool kit and left the Can.
Raelle studied the wire almost three millimeters in diameter, including the
thin, tough insulation. Obviously it could carry many times the current they'd
be using. She adjusted a stripping tool to the proper size and slowly, with
difficulty, stripped a short length of wire. Jay was right, she thought at
leasta month's work. She set the tool aside, stood and poured herself a cup of
coffee, then settled down alongside the "junk box" of miscellaneous tools and
parts that didn't quite fit any standard storage classification. Sitting on
the deck she picked up, looked at, tentatively experimented with one item
after another.
The insulation was crushproof it still held when the wire flattened. A
scraper, with all the weight she could bring to bear, slid along and barely
left a mark. And this tool and that nothing worked. Idly she squeezed the
handles of a three-jawed device used for applying crimp-on taps, then neatly
recoiled the power cord that heated the jaws for faster penetration. Now if
only they had two or three thousand crimp-on taps&
She was pouring her second cup of coffee when the idea came. Cold and
forgotten, that cup still sat full when Raelle finished her first hundred
meters of wire.
"Well, it struck me we didn't need the insulationoff . Jay just breached at
close intervals. So I cut one of the taps into thirds and brazed those to the
jaws and went whomp-whomp-whomp every ten centimeters or so." She flexed her
right hand. "It gets tiring."
Wiping sweat from his forehead, Jay smeared dirt. "So at every whomp the hot
tap punched what is it? ten or fifteen holes through the insulation and made
melt spots on the wire itself. How'd you ever happen to think to try it?"
The question had no answer Raelle shrugged. "Want anything more to eat? More
coffee? And tell me what you've been up to?"
"I'll get it thanks." Sitting again, then, he said, "It's easier to show you
than explain it, but& " What he had done was to build a circle of stone cairns
around the area containingSearch , the hut and the root cellar. "And I'll tell
you, that's a lot of rocks."
"To carry the wire, for our fence? But how?"
He moved his shoulders, the way he did to relieve tension, and grinned. "The
laser drill won't light dry grass at fifty centimeters, but it'll punch
through stone for nearly twenty. I just drilled holes in the top rocks we'll
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thread the wire right through, all around."
Then he told the rest of it. The wire loop itself would detect intruders by
body capacity, operating the high voltage pulser. In the inactive mode,
current drain was minimal. "One of the spare sensor modules, with a few
changes, will make the switch-on unit. Then I need to rig three items,
duplicated here and at the hut an alarm when the thing triggers, an activating
switch and a red light toshow it's activated, so we don't forget and go out
and fry ourselves by mistake."
"This thing's definitely lethal, Jay?"
"If it isn't, our Skip exciter's in big trouble."
That afternoon they finished processing the wire perforating the insulation
to unleash the high voltage pulses more than enough for the simple perimeter
Jay had staked out. Next day they completed the installation. Jay built two
more cairns and they strung a second line of defense across the section that
faced the river. Then at Raelle's suggestion he drilled more stones in every
cairn so she could lace each one together, with monofilament line, into a
solid unit rather than a loose pile. And finally they arranged three
flood-lights so that either fromSearch or from the hut, the entire area could
be lighted.
Lunch came late that day, but the sense of accomplishment gave it an added
tang. Afterward Jay checked his traplines and returned with a catch of three,
strangled in his snares. He tied a line to one furry leg, crossed the defense
perimeter and signaled Raelle to activate the unit then he dragged the
creature toward the innocent-looking wire. Before it touched, the wirehummed
 near it, wisps of grass jerked and flattened then a raging blue maze of
lightning reached out to the small carcass. When Raelle turned the system off
and Jay pulled the remains to him, he found a charred rigid mass.
He showed it to her she shuddered and said, "I think we're safe here, now,
from sea devils."
Now they concentrated on gathering food and building more components of the
fuel recovery system. Raelle's first attempt at salting meat went bad the
second and later batches were successful. Then it was time for another seaward
trip. With shelter and food provided at their cache among the crags, they
burdened themselves only with items for the fuel project.
Still, it was a long hike to the boat. They found it undisturbed. Before
boarding, Raelle gathered the new accumulation of salt on the return trip they
might not wish to stop. And again they flooded for the next batch.
The rest of the journey went quickly. Finally, rounding a bend. Jay shouted,
"The wheel's still turning!" and in a moment Raelle saw it also. Soon they
beached the boat and inspected their handiwork. "Looks fine so far," said Jay.
"We might as well unload this stuff and lay it out for assembly." He paused.
"On the other hand, you're probably as hungry as I am. I can do this by myself
about as soon as you can have something cooked up. All right?"
"Fine," and Raelle started up the trail. Besides a waterbag she carried only [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]