Chương 216: Chapter 447: Rum Bottle Bay

"And I say we call it Sunflower Slough." Several scavengers looked over at SallySue, a gunner's mate on the Orca. Like most of them, she had at least one empty rum bottle on the table, and a pyramid of empty shot glasses. For important get-togethers, keeping score was important. SallySue was in the top tenth of the gathering, so her words weren't dismissed outright, but there were questions.

"Blood Hell, why?"

"Haven't seen the sun in three months, and that's fine by me."

"Is that rum you have in front of you, darlin', or are you into the brake fluid again?" SallySue held up a hand. She would have stood, but her legs had quit answering the call long ago.

"Hear me out. Word will get out someday about a 'Secret Pirate Stronghold', but when they hear the name, they'll be sailing all over looking for fields of sunflowers. We can pay some halfling clans to plant them on the islands where the clans we don't like have their bases, to sow confusion."

"I like it."

"You like that name?"

"Name? No, the name is stupid as shit, I like the idea of confusion and causing trouble."

"Me too, and I'm confused why we'd ever pick a name like that. Are we going to fly blue flags with sunflowers on them?"

"Can't, that's the flag of the Honey Badger Brigade."

"How are they holding out? That war with that Necro-Assassin has been going on for a long time."

"We should help them out, send them a case of rum."

"They like vodka."

"And we like rum."

"How about a case of empty rum bottles filled with gold coins?"

"That'll do. And we do have a lot of empty rum bottles."

"Hmm, that we do. I say we call the place Rumbottle Bay. That describes every Scavenger hangout in history. There's your confusion!" Rum was drunk, and a vote was taken by the seventeen scavengers and five spanner boys present. By the next morning, the huge cavern under the Engineering Outpost had a new name and a lot more empty bottles. It took a bit for it to catch on officially, but both Engineers and Scavengers enjoy a little (or a lot) of alcohol after a hard day's work.

And in the vast cavern, every day revolved around work and double shifts. It was actually an eye-opener for many of the Scavenger crews. They were used to Engineers and Mechanics who worked a little on their ships for a handful of treasure. Every place a ship could put in for repairs had at least one male dwarf, ready with a wrench to solve a problem and then tell them about how he solved it. But not here.

These dwarves had endured long centuries, and now, freed from aging and rotting bodies, they had a lot of work to catch up on. The construction of a new outpost had been exciting, but converting the project to a massive underground shipyard and a tunneling project to the ocean depths was the type of project only the craziest and most skilled of Engineers would contemplate. The sheer scope of Senior Engineer Milo's suggestion shook them to their core. And it was just the beginning.

After that, they would build improved submersibles, salvage the lost ships in the Rust Sea, and eventually rebuild the Queen. A series of legendary endeavors that demanded their best work. No Engineer worked less than twelve hours, and most were putting in sixteen. Drinking came after that, to refresh and energize them. A couple of hours of sleep to chase away stray thoughts, and they were back to work. Carving out the bay was the first priority.

The floor of the cavern was rich with the melted ore that had pooled there from the exposed seams of metal turned molten by the massive explosion that had ended the Pudding and the Snake. Mining the metal was done with whatever method was available. They started with picks and explosives while crews constructed machines that would grind off a layer of ore a foot deep, chugging along in huge oval paths, going deeper and deeper.

Ores were sorted and stored deeper into the caverns, and plans were made to begin the construction of the huge smelters needed for processing, since all of the machinery up in the original outpost was damaged, destroyed, or eaten by the Snake. The news of the completed route to Limburger Hollow was greeted with joy, ensuring a continuous supply of deep copper.

There was a little grumbling about losing to a team using moles and pickaxes, but most counted it as a win for the Engineers, since it had been led by a Senior Engineer. Only those who lost their drinking money were a little upset, but it gave them an excuse to beg drinks from Scavengers, another enjoyable hobby. Getting rum out of a pirate lass took skill and cunning, and there was a secret room where the leader board was kept.

Of more interest were a new source of deep iron and a dozen traditional smelters already being crewed by teams from the hollow. When three teams of junior engineers led by Senior Engineer Ironarm, they found production of deep iron in full swing, with stacks of finished rails and thousands of rail spikes waiting for them. Craft-Master Clawhammer was delighted to have crews ready to lay tracks and give their advice on the best methods for operating the smelters.

Dwarves didn't think the way ratkin did, and some uses of the valves and controls for the smelters had eluded Clawhammer. There was no shortage of either fuel or deep iron ore to keep the smelters running around the clock in a continuous process. Ore, fuel, and additives could be added at regular intervals, and the slag poured off. Molten deep iron was poured out into the rail and spike molds stored in the room. More deep iron was sent to the second set of furnaces to begin the process of making steel.

Deep copper ore was being crushed and smelted in the huge ceramic furnaces, and the stacks of shiny ingots grew larger each day. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. With an assured supply of rails, Ironarm created a job listing for a permanent bridge across the chasm, one that could handle an engine and heavy carts of ore or metal ingots.

It was a tricky bit of engineering and required the creation of large rooms on either end of the tunnel to give them room to work. The work went very quickly when small veins of gold ore were found on both sides of the chasm. Captain Goldtooth set up a mint in Rumbottle Bay, casting 23-carat gold coins. The design was simple with a tankard and rum bottle on one side, and crossed spanners on the reverse.

Soon, the makeshift gambling halls were filled with them, and both Scavengers and Engineers considered the coins to be a promise of things to come, when they would sail into ports with chests full of Rum Bottle dubloons. With the future in mind, the original tunnel was expanded to be tall enough and wide enough for a double set of tracks. Likewise, the bridge needed to be wider and sturdy enough to support two trains at once.

Normally, one train would wait until the other had passed by, but over-engineering was a dwarven trait. When done, the span could support the weight of six ore trains. The construction team held a party on it when it was finished, anointing it with beer and the void below with beer byproducts in the traditional dwarven manner. Someone suggested they do a round of cable-diving, but older and wiser dwarves nixed the idea, pointing out the likelihood of spilling beer and incurring the wrath of the beer gods.

Discussion turned to the idea of covered steins with straws, and other workarounds to the problem. A task force was set up to investigate the problem, but as usual with such ideas, it was forgotten as soon as the next shift started. The drills moved to the next project: carving out a straighter route to Limburger Hollow, suitable for a powered train to traverse. Milo and Brutus had used routes through the natural caves that meandered through the underworld.

With proper surveying and mapping, the dwarves thought that they could cut the distance by over half, and negate a lot of the U-turns and kinks in the route that, while easy for the moles to pull a wagon through, weren't suitable for a double set of tracks. Peenhammer had done extensive surveying and volunteered for the initial assessment of the route. He showed up at Cracked Rock with his surveying team, depth gauges, plumb lines, and mapping tools.

He had just begun to take his initial measurements when he became very nervous and realized that someone was behind him. Someone who had silently snuck up and was leaning over his shoulder, their hot breath on his ear. Then both ears, and he realized that it was two someones. A curious voice casually asked, "Watcha' doing?" Another voice said, "That's a map. He's making a map!"

"I know that, but what kind of map? These are different from the ones we make."

"We make good maps."

"We do, but I want to know about these maps. And I bet the nice dwarf will tell us about them. Dwarves are always nice." Peenhammer slowly turned his head from Rosie to Buttercup and tried to slow his breathing. Each little girl was at least three times his weight, even with his armored suit on. He'd seen them in battle with the Chimera and playing 'Tag' with Senior Engineer Milo. He knew for sure he never wanted to play tag with them.

"You have maps? Why don't you show those to me, and we can talk about making maps?"

"We'll go get them!

"And bring cookies! It's almost time for a cookie break." They bounded off in search of one of their parents and their backpacks with their drawing tools. Peenhammer decided it was time for a Rum break and took a hefty couple of swallows from his flask filled with Captain Blackwater's Double-Strength rum. It steadied his nerves for their return. To his surprise, they had loose-leaf books full of drawings detailing the caves and tunnels between Cracked Rock and Limburger Hollow.

The first set, detailing their return trip to the hollow, was crude, but improved as he turned the pages. The second set showed their return trip through the same caverns, with expanded details, heights, and notations about nearby caverns and dangerous beasts. Far less dangerous beasts than had used to live in the area, it turned out. Brutus loved finding the girls' new playmates rather than playing tag himself.

The two of them each gave him one of their cookies and sat, trying to be patient as he looked at their drawings.

"You are getting better..."

"Yay!"

"Told you!"

"But while helpful, I'm afraid these aren't up to Engineering standards." Their faces fell, and he saw tears in their eyes. Peenhammer was a sucker for tears and little girls, no matter what shape they came in or how long their claws were.

"So, you're going to have to do better when we map out the new route. We'll start with basic surveying techniques and progress from there. It's going to be a lot of hard work, a lot of drawing, and you'll need to learn some new math. Can I count on you to be my assistant surveyors? The two of them hesitated at the word math, but Buttercup had an important question.

"Does this count as schoolwork? Or homework."

"It will be both. Plus, I will need your help to protect my team from dangerous creatures. But you'll have to get your parents' permission and approval." A half hour later, after a conference with Brutus and Gendifur, Peenhammer found himself with two enthusiastic assistant surveyors.