Two Halves: chapter 19

chapter 19 :D

Fire spread out in circles from where the sparks touched the oil. The blaze leaped higher into the air, and towers of flame licked the ceiling of the cavern. The wave of flame enveloped the gunboats; the frost covered boats began to pop and hiss from the sudden heat change. Then a crack rang through the air, one of the gunboat’s forward armor plats hand snapped from the sudden strain. The flame continued towards the base and leaped up the walls of the flame shield, which glowed orange from the strain.

 

“They’re vulnerable, switch to live ammo!” shouted Darris, and the steams of liquid nitrogen stopped flowing. In a turret near them the operator had leaper out and was working on the back of the gun. He pulled out a large tube that connected with the barrel of the turret; which belched steam. Another solider ran towards machine carrying a huge bullet drum on his back, and strapped it into the loading port. He gave the gunner a thumbs up, and backed off from the turret. The gunner pulled down his goggles and smiled manically then pulled the triggers hard. The bullet belt became a blur as it loaded into the ammo port. A hailof bullets battered the gun ships 

 

Similar scenes to this were happening all over the base. The gun ships were caught under a barrage of gunfire. Cracks were starting to appear on windshields, and several of the turrets lining their surfaces had erupted into smoke. The lead ship was in the worse shape; its armor was covered in dents and cracks, and only one if its turrets were still firing.  It was hovering less than a foot above the surface, and sensing its defeat it slowly turned around and limped away across the flaming lake. The other gunboats turned around as well, and followed their leader, but at a much faster pace.

 

Cheers erupted from the base, and people waved rifles in the air over their heads in triumph. Darris smacked Nicolas hard on the back, and guffawed.

 

“This is a good day. First a old enemy comes to help me; then I gain a new ally, and we push back a Salex raiding party.” Darris led them through the base, and even though the fire still blazed outside the flame shell the inside was pleasantly cool. Soldiers turned from their work and saluted Darris as they went by. He acknowledges them with nods and waves.  They were cleaning up the aftermath of the battle, and most were carrying away tanks of liquid nitrogen on handcarts. The surfaces of the barrels slowly frosted over. On the shore at the edge of the force shell men were looking over the shield scrolls, half of each scroll had crumbled from the gunboats’ onslaught.

 

“It is going to take time for us to put out the lake fire. We don’t use that tactic often, but be damned if it isn’t effective. Those were top of the line gunboats, and we gave em hell. In the meantime may I invite you all to a meal in our galley? I’m sure the soldiers would like to meet ya.” said Darris as he led them along. They walked down a narrow spiral staircase down to nearly water level; a long low building rested a few feet above the water. Inside were the sounds of clinking plates and laughter. People were already celebrating the victory. On the side of the building the motors of several pumps were going, and their tubes extended into the oil below.

 

Darris led them inside. There was a momentary silence upon their entrance when everyone looked to see who it was, but group burst into renewed cheers a moment later. Nicolas and the group were eyed nervously, but them being with the gangs leader seemed to overrule any doubts in their minds.

 

“The food here ain’t that good, but it's what we got,” whispered Darris as he picked up a bowl and approached a machine fixed to the wall. The nozzle was dripping a strange black sludge, which was draining into a small hole in the floor. “We convert the oil into nutrient feed. It may not taste good, but its got what ya need.” he held his bowl under the pipe and pulled a lever; a steam of steaming black goop poured into bowl. Darris breathed in deeply and sighed apparently satisfied, and walk to one of the long tables that lined the room. Nicolas pulled the lever and filled his own bowl with the slop and pulled up a chair across from Darris, and lowered his spoon slowly into the black soup. It smelled fowl, but he didn’t want to offend, so he forced a spoonful into his mouth. He nearly gagged as he forced the spoonful down. Then suddenly one of the men behind his burst into laughter.

 

“I can’t believe he ate it!” roared another. The entire group dissolved into laughter. Someone forced a bottle of quick brew into his hand, and the bowl below him was taken away.

 

“Sorry, friend.” Darris blurted out through suppressed giggles ”It’s a right of passage to trick the new guy to eat of bowl of that sludge. We only use it if we are barricaded in and food starts to run low. “  The he couldn’t contain himself and began to roar with laughter. Zeckle sat beside Nicolas, a quick brew bottle in her hand.

 

“I like these guys. They sure know how to have a good time” indeed men were already drunk and dancing on top of tables. Several were singing in slurred voices to some off beat tune. Even Bestalel had a quick brew bottle in his hand, and even though he still stood in the corner away from others every so often a smile would cross his face.

 

Nicolas got up and began to enjoy the party with the other, and why shouldn’t he? He thought. They had just fought a Salex raiding party, and won. Not many people could say that. Maybe they really could make a difference, and maybe they really could win this war.

Author's Note

And so, another daily release it out. I've been wondering. This story is not going to end any time soon, so is there a chapter limit on the books?

Reviews

[Domenic Luciani]

"the frost-covered boats,"
definitely watch out for those repeating words.
Some more description about the cave would be nice. In fact, some more description of the other scenes would do the story well.
The story is progressing reletively well, though the story itself isnt something I usually criticise, so I'll leave to a possible editor, somewhere down the line.
Keep writing.

[Daniel Gardner]

write on my friend!!

[James Watts]

A rain a bullets battered the gun ships. (A rain of bullets battered the gun ships.--you could also use hail over rain if you wanted.)

“The food here ain’t that good, but it's what we got.” (“The food here ain’t that good, but it's what we got,” whispered...)

“Sorry, friend,” Darris blurted out through suppressed giggles.)

Not to worry on chapters, but I would check into word count. 180,000 words is around three hundred pages, roughly. Stephen King has novels that are in 1000 page range, but I haven't did the math on a word count of that size. Just do a little research on novels and word count.

[Dutch Jr.]

Really good, plot moving chapter. I'm ready to read more of this.

[Miss Coral]

Great chapter-- I liked the whole rite of passage thing. There were three typo/grammar errors.
its, when a contraction, should be it's
dialogue requires different grammar
and you could put a question mark after "why shouldn't he"

Overall, another great installment in your book. And god, I hope they don't have a limit. I doubt that they would though.