Tunnel Rat

Chapter 340: Four Shades of Grey

Professor Tallsqueak appeared calm and happy as he sat at the Captain's table. The well-dressed ratkin was casually paying attention to the game and playing very calmly. He mostly seemed interested in spreading the correct amount of cheese on his cracker, striving for a thin and even layer that maximized taste while minimizing the amount on the cracker.

Inside Milo's brain, there was a buzz of activity. He had thought he had a handle on the situation as he worked to transfer as much of the Shark's wealth to himself using the not-so-random games in the Casino while playing by 'Shark Rules'. The arrival of Captain Whale and Captain Squint added new variables and outcomes that he was striving to understand. He had his overmind split into three separate units and all of them were spinning at high speed, aided by the minute bits of Whiskey Barrel Cheddar he was imbibing. This was truly a cheese worth eating, and he was having to exercise control over his longing to ask for a large slice from the huge wheel sitting at the 'Captains Only Buffet.' He cut only a small slice, along with various crackers and other traditional dwarven delicacies such as stale bread with salt, and honey-roasted nuts.

Whale had brought along a dozen of her crew and a few of the Deep Rock Engineers. He saw Boomboom and Narwhale at a craps table, while Two-Screws and four of Leviathan's crew were laughing and drinking at a Blackjack table. A nervous pit boss stood nearby. In fact, lots more Sharks were on the casino floor now, all looking nervous. These weren't the easily handled and nearly broke patrons they were used to dealing with. Whale's crew was rich by Scavenger standards even before they looted the Queen. They placed large bets and knew their way around a card table. The Sharks had to be very careful with their cheating, and that evened the odds.

The Engineers were far worse. Every single one of them could count cards and figure the odds of every hand. They were immune to the alcohol the Sharks thrust upon them, used to much more potent vintages. With the wealth of the lower caverns, each one had pulled out gold bars and slapped them down with a casual negligence that unnerved the Sharks and filled them with greed. The stakes tonight were high and everyone could feel the tension in the air.

Everyone, that is, except Captain Squint. He sat at the table between Mako and Whale, telling stories to no one in particular, eating snacks, and annoying Mako by first stacking his chips and then 'accidentally' knocking them over. The leader of the Kulags had brought half his gang with him, and several of them had carried large bags of copper and silver coins. Squint poured them out until they made a large pile overflowing the table. "Funny story, I forgot I had these down in the basement until my kittens reminded me about the time I looted one of the Deep Dungeons in the Forgotten City of Tentacle Monsters. Weird place. Every nightmare I have about that place is different and I mostly forget I was there when I'm awake."

Milo was sitting quietly, observing the other players in the game, and playing conservatively. Knowing how the Sharks cheated at the other tables, he was sure they would have a method to change the odds at their special table. The stakes would be high, and Mako's reputation would be on the line. But he hadn't figured the method out yet.

Again and again, he examined the cards. They were beautiful works of art on the front, each one depicting a dwarven Scavenger, or in the case of the Kings and Jacks, Engineers. While it was close to a standard deck of cards, there was a familiar theme to the names of the cards and their artwork. Tens were called Mates and depicted as heavily muscled and dangerous-looking scavengers. Nines were Gunners, and the Eights were Loaders. 'Crew cards' showed the appropriate number of crew members, from 2 to 7. The Jacks were young, apprentice Engineers with a short beard, round cheeks, and knowing smirks. Queens were called Captains and outranked the Engineers that represented the Kings. Aces were still called aces, but the illustrations were huge cannons.

The backs of the cards showed a three-masted wooden sailing ship with full sails. The detail was incredible, down to the last line and sail, all done in shades of white, black, and grey. Milo had examined the card backs for the runes used in the other decks of cards but saw nothing. For some time, he theorized that perhaps the game wasn't rigged and Makko simply relied on her skill at cards. He wondered about sleight of hand tricks, but from what Pike had told him, Scavenger Captains were known for high perception and skills that helped them in finding treasure, and avoiding knives in their backs. It seemed unlikely that Makko or the Shark dealing cards would try to cheat someone like Whale or Annie. Milo made small bets, folded often and took a small pot or two, but mostly he listened and looked for clues of what Mako was up to. He wasn't going to bet heavily in a game where the Sharks were in control. And it was interesting to listen to the other players.

"Damn, my cards are as busted as your ship, Mako!" Whale looked disgusted at the three cards she'd drawn, but tossed gold into the pot anyway.

Mako tensed at the jibe, then relaxed by force of will. "I wasn't the first Captain to lose a ship in this town. I don't see Leviathan floating in the bay, either."

"Oh, I didn't 'lose' my ship, we found all the parts pretty quick after we blew her up. How's the treasure hunt going for pieces of the Silver Shark? You don't seem to have more than half of it in that pile of wreckage. You should have beached her first like I did. So much easier to find everything afterward. Lord knows the damned spanner boys complain every time they can't find a part and have to make a new one."

All of the scavengers laughed at that comment. Annie the loudest, "That means they're working hard! Any time I have an Engineer working on my ship, I get nervous if they aren't constantly complaining. That means either something is really borked-up or my crew has dragged them off somewhere for a party. But hell, Whale, you're actually working with a full crew of them. How the hell do you get any work done?"

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Whale drank down her mug of rum and leered at the other captains, "Oh, it's tough, I tell you that much. But these boys are the most rivet-crazy bunch I've ever seen. I swear they blew up their own base out of boredom and wanting something to fix! They work for days on end without sleep, and they've got half of my crew doing the same. Every time I turn around they're redesigning something and making it better. I think they've built Leviathan three times over now. Yesterday, it was the boilers."

Mako looked interested at the last comment, probably because her own boilers were scrap metal rusting on the beach. "You let them touch your boilers? And while you're up here playing cards?!"

"Oh, no worries. I'll go over their work and rip it up if I don't like it. But you should see the new plans they have for a high-pressure, liquid fuel boiler. It's a beautiful thing made of a new Hammer Steel alloy and all of the lines and fittings are made from the purest Deep Copper you've ever seen."

"Liquid fuel? Not coke or charcoal? You'd trust that nonsense?"

Whale didn't seem to be concerned about the non-traditional fuel. "Oh, I told Sledge he was crazy as a halfling on a diet. He took that as a compliment and dragged me down to where they'd already built it. The damnedest thing you have ever seen. Burns a mix of waste fluid and whiskey. Hot as the devil and has three times more pressure than a standard boiler. They're testing it by running it in the red for a month, trying to blow it up. They almost seem disappointed that they can't make it explode."

"Damn, how much are they charging you for that? I might need to place an order with them."

Whale's smile grew predatory, "Sorry, dearie. That's part of my deal with Sledge. They keep my secrets, and I keep theirs. Leviathan is going to be twice as fast as any other ship on the sea or under it. Why would I give that up to the competition? Not that the Sharks have ever been competition."

Annie joined in the conversation. "I'm not so sure about that, Whale. They've become masters at disguising their submersibles as regular ships, or so I hear. Word is that Mako hid her ship under a fishing boat, but forgot which one until the eels helped her find it."

Whale flipped over her cards, showing three leering Jacks and two Gunners. Annie groaned and tossed her cards in the pile. Squint did as well, even though he hadn't looked at his hand at all, being too engrossed watching Milo spread cheese. Mako scowled, and Milo wasn't sure if it was at the cards or the insult, but something happened, and the part of his mind keeping track of the cards noticed it.

Mako turned over a full house as well, with Captains and Aces, sweeping in the pot to Whale's dismay.

"Well, maybe after I take all your money, you'll feel different about selling me some new boilers. Sassy, run get another tray of chips for Captain Whale. She needs a refill."

Milo had seen the backs of two of Mako's cards change. He wasn't sure what, and for the next minute, he replayed the scene in his mind, trying to see exactly what had happened. No runes had been used, it hadn't been a spell, and her hands hadn't been anywhere near the cards. After many reviews, he could see that the water directly behind the rudder was a shade darker than before. As new cards were dealt, he could see four areas where the shade of grey was slightly different. Examining his own cards gave him the clues to see what suit each card was by looking at the shading on the water. Without his goggles and Dark Vision, he wouldn't have been able to see the difference.

There was a sudden disturbance from the other end of the floor. Sharks and Engineers were converging on the Blackjack table where Two-Screws was playing cards. His loud voice could be heard above the hubbub. "No, I won't be reasonable. You think I came up here to be reasonable about things? I came to play cards. Not my fault you ran out of chips!"

Each of the Engineers at the tables had a large pile in front of them, larger than when Milo had last checked. Two-Screws' pile was overflowing the table, and the dealer had nothing in front of her. Two nervous Pit Bosses were standing by the table, trying in vain to outshout the Engineer. Makko cursed under her breath and then yelled down.

"What the hell is the problem?"

Two-Screws looked up at her and grinned, "I came to gamble and drink! It's what I thought you do here. But now that your tables are running out of chips, they want to limit our betting to one chip a hand. How in hell am I going to get rid of this pile at only one chip a hand? It will take days and you'll run out of booze!"

The Engineers applauded his logic and his harem of scavengers offered to help him spend his coins. Mako looked around. The Engineers had come in sober with a lot of gold on them, and a few had gotten lucky and built up some large piles in front of them. This one almost seemed apologetic about winning, and his point about booze was the answer she was looking for. More drinks down his throat would make it easier to put all those chips where they belonged. Strong drinks, and lots of them. Her whiskey bill was going to be huge this week, but it would be worth it.

"Spoken like a man that knows how to have some fun. Bring out a new barrel of whiskey for that table, and no limits on bets. Beluga, head to my office where we have the extra chips for big nights, we're going to need them to keep our customers happy."

Milo looked across the room at Two-Screws, happily increasing his bets. Mako had one hand on the table, so tightly that the tips of her fingers were turning white. The Shark boss was on edge, and he suspected it might be time to play a bit more aggressively. "Sassy? Would you be so kind as to bring me a cup of coffee? Black and strong, please. And more of these sesame seed crackers. I believe I will have another slice of cheese."

Captain Squint grinned, "I'll have some cheese too, things are about to get interesting."