Tunnel Rat

Chapter 263: Find another way

Senior Chief Engineer Sledgemonkey glared at his friend as they contemplated the angry mob standing in front of them, looking quite unreasonable and not at all quiet. "What was it you said? 'Don't worry yourself, Two-Screws, they're just fisher people. Quiet and reasonable folks.' They aren't quiet, and they don't look reasonable, in my opinion."

"In fact, I remember the whole lot of you at thee meeting saying I'd just have to go over some facts and figures, maybe pay out a little coin, and point out the economic advantages of the project."

Two-Screws said with a straight face, "And that's why we put you in charge. You're ability to win people over with boring facts and figures. Don't worry, I'm right behind you when they come at us with the fork-pitching things that go with the torches." While Two-Screws had no idea what the silly fork things were for, he wasn't wrong that a large number of the mob was holding them along with a good number of torches. The light sources at least made sense. Even down by the docks, Shadowport lived up to its name.

The two engineers walked down to the waiting mob of people who were between a set of old docks and a work crew of humans and dwarves from the carpenter's guild who were quite content to sit around drinking beer and let older and wiser people deal with problems. Sledgemonkey didn't see anyone in charge of the mob of angry humans, so he pitched his voice loudly to the group. "I was told there was a problem. Can someone explain to me what's going on? I'm sure we can work things out and get this project back on schedule."

Several people started talking at once, and finally, a large woman stepped forward and glared at everyone around her. They grudgingly gave her the floor. "Yes, there is a problem. You want to destroy this section of docks and turn it into something we don't want, and don't need. We fish for a living. Boats need docks and space is limited. There has never been enough docks in the city, and now you want to tear apart some of what we have, and turn the area into a shipyard."

"But no one is using this section! It's been empty for a week and unused. That's wasteful. If space is at such a premium, tell me why no one uses the docks?" Sledgemonkey stuck his thumbs in his belt, certain the argument was over. That no boat was using these docks was patently clear to anyone. The mob seemed to have other ideas, and shouted them all at him.

The large woman turned and said "Quiet. I'm talking. And unless you want to wear the same dirty clothes for six months, you'll give me the chance to explain to these poor dirt grubbing dwarves how ignorant they are of how things work here." Everyone agreed with that, except for the two dwarves who shared a worried look.

"Firstly, let us have names, for names are a powerful thing and tie us to our actions. Mine is Alessandra. Now name yourselves or go home to your holes in the dirt." That got a chuckle from the two dwarves. They preferred straight forward talk.

"I'm Senior Engineer Sledgemonkey. You can call me Chief or Sledge. That grinning idiot is called Two-Screws. Nice to meet you. Now tell me why a dock no one uses is so important."

She pointed at the dock in question. "No one is using that dock because the idiot that owns them is being a greedy arse. Those pirates came crashing into the town with that huge beast in tow, and you blew the ship, the hydras, and the docks to splinters. Without those docks, the families who have used those docks for generations and paid with a portion of their catch have beg for space at the other docks."

"But Whale paid for new docks. She had plenty of treasure from their last haul. They just finished them."

Alessandra nodded. "Aye, she did. And the owners doubled their fees. We can't afford that, especially with other dock owners talking of doing the same thing. The fishing families are putting their feet down and giving him no business. If we pay him double, everyone will double their fees. He was almost ready to give in and agree to only a small increase when he got wind of this big shipyard you want to build. You sauntered in and offered to buy his old docks for too much money, and the docks next to his. Prices will increase, there will be no room for boats, and it will be all your fault." She stood with her arms crossed, glaring at them.

"Well, we plan to build a dock of sorts. We need a drydock and launchpad to put Leviathan back together. Once she's floating, maybe we sell them back or something." Sledge could tell that reasoning wasn't winning them over.

Alessandra barely let him finish. "No, you won't. Because you'll have another project, a bigger boat, and another after that. I've heard the drunken dwarves when they come to wash beer and food stains out their pantaloons and low cut shirts. They want to fix one ship so they can go salvage another. As soon as you start building your drydock their will be a row of taverns, foundries and tattoo parlors. Some of them are talking about building a dance hall. This isn't the first time Shadowport has had to deal with pirates; you're just shorter than most of the others and drink more."

Two-Screws didn't feel it was fair that hardworking engineers bore the sins of the scavenger crews, but most of what the large human woman was saying was true. "But won't all of this bring in gold and trade to the city? That's got to be good for all of you."

"Good for some, bad for the fishing families. Who do you think feeds the city? And trades for wheat and vegetables from the nearby villages? We don't eat rocks and mud like some folks. If there is no room for the boats and fishing families can't make ends meet, then half of them will be forced to move on and try to rebuild elsewhere. Extra gold won't mean much when the price doubles and triples. We saw that before with Girt and the food hoarders."

A drunken female voice came from the side of the crowd. "Good. Then, the humans will clear out, and we can have our city back. It was a dwarven city a thousand years ago. It can be again." A group of female scavengers with too much beer inside of them and not enough common sense taunted the crowd.

Two-Screws turned to his partner. "You keep yapping at Alessandra here, you almost have yourself convinced she's right. I'll go take care of our drunken beardlings." He turned and walked over to the scavengers, "Now girls, let's not be rude to the large crowd of angry people looking for a target. How about I buy you a round of whiskey and whoever gets to the bar first gets an extra two shots? GO!"

No scavenger turned down free booze and they all hated losing contests. The five of them raced away with Two-Screws following behind, whistling an old sea-shanty.

Sledgemonkey watched him go, feeling he'd been outmaneuvered yet again. "I sort of see your point about the tattoo parlors. But you have to see our side of things. We talked to all of the guilds about our plans for drilling from the outpost to the city and we've moved a lot of rock to do it. The city has more people employed than ever before and it's because of the trade we bring up and the things we buy. We cleared the scrap of Leviathan and rebuilt what we broke. Now we just need a spot to put it back together."

Alessandra wasn't smiling. "Yes, your hole in the ground with machines crawling out of it. You came up underneath four houses and those families had to move aside for you. They had no choice, and were told it was for the good of everyone. But they'd owned those houses for decades."

"They did, but we made deals before we dug the tunnel mouth. No one lost anything, and we paid for the land. They all pocketed the cash and moved. What's the problem."

"The problem," said the washer woman, "Is that again, you don't understand the consequences of your actions. There isn't room to build new houses in this area, not with all the buildings going to bars and tattoo parlors, and those people want to be close to their relatives. Too close! I have my sister and her family living in my house now because of your hole in the ground, and her husband stays home all day because he can't fish!"

Sledgemonkey realized the humans were crafty in choosing this woman, she wasn't going to give in and had enough a grudge that she might out-stubborn a dwarf.

"You will find another way, engineer, to solve all of our problems. This dock stays a dock, and if that means you don't have a need for that hole in the ground, that will make me happy too. Find another way."

Sledgemonkey pondered those problems as he retreated to find what bar Two-Screws was in. The sound of a steam whistle got his attention. Coming across the bay was a battered stern-wheeler bearing the flag of another scavenger clan. The ramshackle ship moved to the empty dock, hitting just a little too hard and splintering some planks with its metal prow. A cheer went up from the crew on the deck. Two grumpy looking women began the work of securing the ship as they watched the rest of the crew hop over the side and head towards the town.

One of them yelled to Sledgemonkey. "Hey, Cloudbeard! Where can a few girls from a fine ship like ours get a drink around here?"

Sledgemonkey pointed in the direction that Two-Screws had gone. "Head that way, I hear a handsome beardling is buying shots."

That brought some laughter. "See? Get here first and they hand out free shots. The girls on the Behemoth and Seashark are going to be wishing they'd beat us here!"

Around the headlands, two more vessels could be seen racing toward the city. Alessandra stepped beside him. "Do you see now? It's not just one problem, but several. You brought some change to the city, but you also brought problems that need to be solved if we're all going to live in peace."