Before the conference was finished, they ran into another obstacle. Shegnif did not like the idea that most members of the air force would be humans. He wanted many more Neshgai aboard the blimps.
'But it's a matter of weight,' Ulysses said. 'For every Neshgai on a craft, you have so much less fuel and bombs. You cut down on the cruising range and the firepower you can deliver.'
'That won't matter if the blimps operate near the edge of The Tree. They'll be close to the bases, and they can make more flights to compensate. There's no problem there.'
When Ulysses saw Awina the next day, he felt guilty — and also happy. There was no reason why he had to feel guilty. After all, Lusha and Thebi were humans, not furry, cat-eyed, carnivorous-toothed, tailed, crooked-legged creatures. He was free to do as he pleased, and he was becoming very fond of Thebi.
Nevertheless, Awina made him flush with guilt. A moment later, while talking to her, he felt a joy that made his heart beat faster and his breast ache.
It was not what the humans of his time thought of as falling in love. It was not love with any idea of physical mating with her, of course. But he had grown so used to her, so delighted in her companionship, her way of talking and attending to him, that he loved her. Loved her as a sister, he could truthfully say. Well, not exactly a sister. There was more to it than that. Actually, his feeling for her was indefinable as yet. Or, perhaps, he told himself in a flash of frankness, the feeling was better left undefined.
Definitions aside, she made him happier than anybody else he had met since he had awakened. Maybe even before he had awakened.
There was no doubt abouther feelings. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the two women, and her black lips curled to reveal the sharp teeth. Her tail stiffened out. She slowed her walk, and then she looked at him. She smiled, but she could not keep smiling. And when she got close to him he could read the expression beneath that black mask of velvet fur. She was very angry.
He could understand her reaction, but he did not intend to put up with it for long. She would have to take a realistic attitude. If she did not, she would have to go. He did not want this to happen. He would feel sorrow if he had to send her away. It would be a deep sorrow, but he could endure it, and the sorrow would fade away. More than anyone else, he should know what the passage of time could do.
This did not help him at all.
Awina did not try to conceal her intentions, though she did dampen the tendency to violence that she must have been feeling.
'It is good to be back at your side, my Lord. You will have your handmaid, afree person and a worshiper, at your side.'
She spoke in Ayrata, doubtless to make sure that the two women understood.
'It is good to have you back with me,' he replied gravely.
He winced at the thought of her hurt when he would tell her that she would be sleeping in a separate room from now on. He made a lousy god. A god should be arrogant, above consideration of mere mortals' feelings.
Knowing that he was being a coward, and hating himself for it, he put off telling her. To dull the reproach, he rationalised that he did have more important matters to attend to just now. But he realised that he was only lying to himself.
She did go with him to the conference and the two women were left behind. She was intelligent, and she could later explain to his people what was going on. They would be restless and resentful for some time because there was no place for them in his plans. They did not have the knowledge and skills needed for the next phase in the war against The Tree and its servants. But he would tell them that and also explain that the time would come when they would be very much needed. Once the attack was launched on the Dhulhulikh, the three feline groups would be much more valuable in The Tree than the pachyderms or the humans. They were more agile and more familiar with The Tree,
The days and nights were busy and productive, though not as productive as he wished. The Neshgai looked so elephantine, they seemed above such human traits as pettiness, jealously, graft, competition for prestige and money and position, backbiting, and just plain stupidity. Unfortunately, they werenot above such things. It was true that they did not seem to be as active in these traits as their human counterparts. But this was because they were slower. And so events went at the pace of a sick turtle. Or an anaemic elephant. He spent half of his time in straightening out administrative squabbles, soothing wounded egos, listening to petitions for advancement or wild schemes for using the blimps, trying to find out what had happened to materials or workers he had ordered.
He complained to Shegnif, who only shrugged his shoulders and waved his trunk about.
'It's the system,' he said. 'I can't do much about it. I can threaten to cut off a few trunks here and there or even a head. But if the culprits were found, and then brought to trial, you would lose even more time. You'd have to spend too much time as a witness in court to get much done on your projects. Our courts are very slow. As the proverb says, 'A head once cut off can't be put back on.' We Neshgai don't forget that Nesh is, first of all, the god of justice. We can't be too careful to avoid injustices.'
Ulysses tried being subtle. He said, 'The border scouts report that large numbers of Vignoom and Glassim are gathering on the branches near the edge of The Tree. They should be attacking soon. Are you going to consider the course of possible injustice against them if you should attack them first? Or are you going to let them pick the time and the place?'
Shegnif smiled and said, 'You are telling me that if I don't take quick action with the new weapons and craft, we will be hurt badly? Well, you may be right, but I can't do anything about speeding up your projects. Or cutting down the cost, either. And don't argue with me.'
There was no one else to appeal to. Any appeal to the ruler, Zhigbruwzh IV, would go through Shegnif, and even if the Vizier passed it on, Zhigbruwzh was not likely to ignore the advice of his Vizier. Especially if the petition issued from an alien.
Ulysses was not sure that Shegnif did not plan to do away with him as soon as the gunpowder, aircraft manufacturing and the navigating techniques were complete and fully understood. After all, he was a human, and he had no reason to be loyal to the Neshgai. It was conceivable that Shegnif could suspect him of being an agent of The Tree. Ulysses could have been sent to spy on the land, stir up the slaves and get the Neshgai to build an air fleet which would be turned against the Neshgai.
Ulysses admitted to himself that, if he were Shegnif, he would be contemplating these possibilities. And he would be tempted to imprison Ulysses as soon as Ulysses' basic work was done.
All Ulysses could do was hope that Shegnif realised he would need Ulysses for a long long time. Surely Shegnif must know that The Tree had to be killed before the Neshgai would be safe from it.
Meanwhile, the production of black gunpowder, bombs and rocket cases had started. The preliminaries of making sulphuric acid, and then getting enough zinc with which the acid could react to form hydrogen, had been passed. Iron, which also could have been used, seemed to be absent even in minute quantities. It was not altogether absent, of course, since it existed in many rocks. But the materials, labour and time needed to extract it were enormous — prohibitive, as far as Shegnif was concerned. Ulysses had trained a team to look for zinc, and within ten days a man had found it in the form of sphalerite. This sulphide ore was roasted to form the oxide, which was mixed with compressed charcoal and heated to twelve hundred degrees centigrade (or six hundredgrengzhuyn). The zinc vapour was condensed outside the reaction chamber and then cast into spelter blocks. Using a low temperature process, the sulphide was roasted to the sulphate, later extracted with water. Zinc metal was then obtained by electrolysis, using the vegetable batteries.
The skin of the blimp was formed from the inner husk of the plant which furnished the motors. This was extremely light, strong and flexible; fifty sewn together made a large enough bag to contain the hydrogen.
The main problem was the motor. There was not enough iron to make even one motor nor any bauxite available to make aluminium nor any metals that could be substituted. The only propulsive power was the vegetable muscle-motor used to drive the cars, trucks and boats. Ulysses tried the water in a manner similar to that of the jet mechanism of land engines first but they just would not turn a propeller long enough and fast enough. He experimented with the jet motors of the sea ships, which took in and expelled water in a manner similar to that of the jet mechanism of an octopus. However, they were not effective when expelling air.
A solution to the problem came from Fabum, a human overseer on a motor plantation. He sent in a formal suggestion to Ulysses. The paper was lost somewhere in the administrative jungle that had grown up around the embryo air force. Fabum got tired of waiting for a reply and succeeded in getting permission from his immediate Neshgai superior to make the experiment himself. He enclosed two automobile motors in a gondola and grew the
