B00BPJL400 EBOK Read Online Free PDF Page B

engine, so only just enough can reach it. This . . . comparison helped me understand, though I remain unsure why two wires are needed. This ground, or dead, wire still confuses me.” She smiled. “We Mi-Anaaka—Lemurians—understand machines. We are good with machines. This machinelike explanation was good for me.” She peered at Meksnaak. “And elec-
tricity
is
not
invisible when it gets loose—or touches the dead wire somehow! It is like the lightning in the sky when that happens, so it is clearly running in the wires!”
    “Huh,” Gray said, getting in the spirit of the analogy. “Think of the ground wire as the igniter that lights the fuel inside the electric motor—or in the lightbulb! It acts like the ground when lightning strikes!”
    Saan-Kakja smiled at him. The expression didn’t extend across her face—’Cats didn’t have near the range of facial movement as humans, but her exotic eyes twinkled. “Thank you, Mr. Gray!”
    A broad inlet of the bay snaked up past the building, and a variety of interesting boats floated beside a pier. The small, two-seat PB-1B “Nancy” flying boats of one of Maa-ni-la’s several patrol wings rested on wheeled trucks on a broad ramp by the water. Nancys were good little planes and had become the backbone of the Allied air arm. They looked like miniature PBY Catalinas, since that’s what inspired their lines, but they’d proven themselves effective at many roles, from reconnaissance to dive bombing.
    “Building our own ‘bony blimps’ now?” Gray asked, looking up at the building as they exited the carriage.
    Saan-Kakja sneeze-chuckled. “That would be nuts,” she said. “I have not seen the Grik zeppel-ins, but individually they are no match for any of our flying machines—now we have learned they are armed, and how to avoid their weapons. Cap-i-taan Tikker’s report was most informative.”
    “Trouble is, they apparently don’t come individually, but in swarms,” Gray countered, “and I don’t like these suicide glider bombs they’re usin’ at all.”
    “True,” Saan-Kakja agreed, turning more serious. “But the notion of two such massive machines bumping into each other high in the sky . . . it amused me. No, I would show you other things.” She paused, looking at Matt, then glanced at his cane. “If you are sure you are up to it?”
    “I’m fine,” Matt replied. “Besides, I can’t wait to greet our guests when they get here.” He glanced at his watch—always vaguely surprised to find it still working after all it had been through. “They should be along pretty soon.”
    Busaa remained with Meksnaak at the carriage. Meksnaak complained he couldn’t breathe in the great building, but was also making his point that he didn’t intend to associate with electricity any more than he had to. Besides, even though he hadn’t brought it up, he remained somewhat affronted by what he considered the uncivilized tactics used by
Walker
’s team to win the baseball game. The rest of them entered the massive structure through a small door beside a pair of huge ones designed to roll aside. Matt had some idea of what they were here to see. He’d been told of the project headed by a former POW who’d survived
Mizuki Maru
, before the hellish ship was altered into a Q ship and sent against her former escort; the destroyer
Hidoiame
. That mission, commanded by Sato Okada, had failed, resulting in the loss of
Mizuki Maru
with all hands. But it was likely she’d landed some licks first, which possibly saved
Walker
in the long run. In any event, the forty-odd survivors of the ship’s original cargo of mistreated prisoners had joined the Allied cause in various capacities and were beginning to make their presence felt. Carpenter’s Mate Third Class Winston “Winny” Rominger was one.
    Winny hurried over himself as soon as they stepped into the giant building. He was tall, with jet-black hair and a big, bushy mustache. He was still thin, and