still a man who had watched his beloved shipâhis home, his livelihood, to all intents his lifeâreduced to a wreck, and seen the love of his life torn limb from limb and devoured alive by crocodiles.
âWell,â Mildred said, âwe already know we wonât die from radiation poisoning. Not right away.â
Myronâs jaw tightened briefly under his beard. Krystyâs friend Mildred tended to deal with severe stress through sarcasm. And what she said was actually both true and responsive to the question. But put that wayâwell, it probably didnât sit too well with the poor man.
âWe have food for a couple weeks, easy,â Arliss said. âMore if you donât mind living on nothing but that hundred pounds of jugged sauerkraut we picked up in Moellerville. Weâll see how bad the croc jerky weâve got drying turns out to be.â
âWe can also fish, and mebbe catch some more crocodiles,â the rigger went on.
âIf they donât catch us first,â Jake said.
âYeah, thanks for the reminder.â Arliss flicked his eyes to Myron, the acting captain. He had his head down with his beard on his collarbone and seemed too sunk in his own misery to register what the perpetually gloomy navigator had said. âWe can also try hunting, trapping and fishing for fresh meat.â
âWe want to be triple careful of that,â Ryan said. âEspecially if stickies are in the area.â
âOf course, if they are, weâll likely find out about it when they come calling,â J.B. stated. He sounded way more amused at the prospect than the Queen âs crew looked.
Ryan scratched his right ear. âThatâs why Jakâs prowling out in the weeds beyond the perimeter. That, and weâd have to chain him to the boat to keep him from patrolling on his own.â
âWill he be okay out there?â Suzan asked. âI mean, if thereâs stickies and all. Not to mention other wild animals.â
âIf stickies reside in the vicinity,â Doc said, âit is highly unlikely that any other predators of any size do. Many muties are not highly tolerant of competition.â
âNot to mention just plain mean,â Abner added.
âWhat about the rads?â Nataly asked. âAnd the toxic metals Mildred talks about? I mean, in the fish and game, if we eat any of it.â
She dabbed at some crocodile grease at the side of her thin-lipped mouth. The fresh croc flesh had been altogether tasty, roasted on driftwood spits over open fires.
âIf we stay away from internal organs, especially the liver, we shouldnât get hurt by heavy metal toxicity any more than from environmental exposure to the fallout. Same for the radiation, actually. The fact thereâs no real hot spots right close by, and we didnât land smack-dab in the middle of a strontium swamp, is a hopeful sign, at least.â
Her broad, normally smooth forehead creased in a thoughtful frown.
âStill, as long as we donât spend more than a week or two here, the rad and metal poisoning shouldnât shorten our lives by more than ten, twenty years.â
Everybody had a good laugh at that. None of them would have called the prospects of their all living to see the sun come up again particularly prime.
âWhat about those two fleets full of ironclads that almost did us in today?â Sean asked.
Arliss looked at Myron, who was still sunk in his despair. Then he looked at Ryan.
âThatâs a fighting matter, Iâd say, more than a river boatmanâs. Where do you guys stand, anyway? You signed on for the duration of the voyage down to the Sippi Delta baronies, which would appear to have come to an end, at least for now. And you hired on to accept the, ah, the Conoyers as your bosses while actively employed. But it looks to me like youâre free agents now.â
He grimaced. âItâs not like thereâs anything