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Levy, they looked like criminals. They were criminals. He said, “I’m going to put you in the combat division. Any objections?” They said nothing, but some had expressions which meant that they intended never in their lives to do any work.
    â€œYou know,” said Levy, “I’m the captain, and I’m the law. If you don’t work and do what I tell you, I’m going to throw you off the ship ... when we’re far from land.” He opened his desk drawer and took out a revolver in a leather holster wound around by a cartridge belt. The thick magnum bullets were somewhat terrifying to see in their dull symmetrical brassiness. Levy withdrew the pistol, snapped out the barrel, and turned it so that the criminals could see brass inside blue chambers. “Got news for ya,” he said, chewing his gum fast, as sheriffs had done in his youth when they had questioned him. “I’m from Texas. Know what that means?” They were fascinated. “It means if you don’t work and you won’t jump...” and here he hesitated for a long time even after the translators had caught up, “I’ll put a bullet through your head.” Then he winked, but stood up and strapped on the pistol, with no intention of taking it off.
    Including seven officers, the combat battalion numbered sixty-three. When augmented from other sections it reached over a hundred. They were divided into ten platoons of ten, each with an officer in charge. Every day they drilled for hours in fighting with night sticks, fire hoses, chains, long pikes, and their fists. They exercised and practiced climbing the masts and cables, swinging from ropes, broad-jumping from hatch to hatch, and maneuvering in unison. The criminals were especially aggressive, and this stimulated the others.
    With almost fifty engineers, technicians, and artisans, Levy worked on the war engines. There were to be three corkscrew-type augurs on both sides of the ship. As well as rotate, each had to be able to move back and forth, up and down, and in and out. From the limited materials available, design and manufacture of wheeled and geared augur carriages was a feat. So was the installation of variable-length, angled power trains to provide turn for the drills, three of which would be operating at once. The two cargo booms were modified to slide at the base and lock down. At their tips huge weights were placed in opposition to conical projections with barbed ends of solid steel. These looked mysterious and dangerous.
    Turrets were built on the superstructures, and holes made in bulkheads and decks in order to run hose to the upper fortifications thus created. The deck winches which were to power the augurs were taken apart and overhauled. To get metal for these projects, for the hinged barbwire fences which hung off the sides of the ship, and for the various camouflage structures created to mask most of this from view, parts of the vessel were cannibalized. The effect was one of great sloppiness and disorganization, especially since the windows had been blacked out with an orange antirust paint and the wash fluttered from lines on all decks. The
Lindos Transitlooked
like a fruit wagon which had rolled down a steep hill and crashed into a laundry truck.
    Hundreds of people crowded the decks, practicing club fighting, doing calisthenics, peeling potatoes, welding, painting, putting out imaginary fires, calling orders, playing violins and an ocarina, praying, dancing, running with messages, nursing children, pushing around supplies, sewing, polishing, bathing, climbing into the lifeboats, climbing the masts, running lines, arguing, jumping from hatch to hatch, drawing plans, singing, sawing, rolling bandages, tearing up wicker chairs, weaving shields, piling rocks and rubble, erecting barriers of wood, metal, and wire, cutting apart rubber tires, treating the sick, hiding, laughing, doing everything except standing like a zoo animal behind