The engines
are much bigger than would be needed on an ordinary contragravity
craft, because a hunter-ship operates under water as well as in the
air. Then, there's a lot of cargo space for the wax, and the boat
berth aft for the scout boat, so they're not exactly built for
comfort. They don't really need to be; a ship's rarely out more than a
hundred and fifty hours on any cruise.
Murell had done a lot of reading about every phase of the wax
business, and he wanted to learn everything he could by actual
observation. He said that Argentine Exotic Organics was going to keep
him here on Fenris as a resident buyer and his job was going to be to
deal with the hunters, either individually or through their
co-operative organization, if they could get rid of Ravick and set up
something he could do business with, and he wanted to be able to talk
the hunters' language and understand their problems.
So I took him around over the boat, showing him everything and
conscripting any crew members I came across to explain what I
couldn't. I showed him the scout boat in its berth, and we climbed
into it and looked around. I showed him the machine that packed the
wax into skins, and the cargo holds, and the electrolytic gills that
extracted oxygen from sea water while we were submerged, and the
ship's armament. Finally, we got to the engine room, forward. He
whistled when he saw the engines.
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