羊毛战记 Part 4 The Unraveling 40

　　40,　　For you and I are past our dancing days.,　　Knox saw the uproar ¹ in Mechanical as just another emergency to overcome. Like the time thebasement subwall had sprung a leak, or when the oil rig had hit that pocket of methane ² and they hadto evacuate ³ eight levels until the air handlers made it safe to return. Against the inevitable ⁴ flow ofcommotion, what he needed to do was push for order. To assign tasks. He had to break a hugeundertaking down to discrete ⁵ bits and make sure they fell to the right hands. Only this time, he andhis people wouldn’t be setting out to repair something. There were things the good people ofMechanical meant to break.,　　“Supply is the key,
” he told his foremen, pointing to the large-scale blueprint ⁶ hanging on the wall.,　　He traced the stairwell up the thirty flights to Supply’s main manufacturing floor. “Our greatestadvantage is that IT doesn’t know we’re coming.” He turned to his shift leaders. “Shirly, Marck, andCourtnee, you’ll come with me. We’ll load up with supplies and take your shadows with us. Walker,you can wire ahead to let ’em know we’re coming. Be careful, though. Assume IT has ears. Say wehave a load of your repairs to deliver. ”,　　He turned to Jenkins, who had shadowed under Knox for six years before he grew his own beardand moved to third shift. The assumption everywhere was that Knox’s job was his in waiting. “Jenks,I want you to take over down here. There are no days off for a while. Keep the place running, but getready for the worst. I want as much food stockpiled as possible. And water. Make sure the cistern ⁷ istopped up. Divert from the hydroponics feed if you have to, but be discreet ⁸. Think of an excuse, likea leak or something, in case they notice. Meanwhile, have someone make the rounds and check everylock and hinge, just in case the fighting comes to us. And stockpile whatever weapons you can makeup ⁹. Pipes, hammers, whatever.
”,　　“But what’s the larger picture?” Courtnee asked, glancing at the tall blueprint of their buriedhome. “Storm IT, and then what? Take over running this place? ”,　　“We already run this place,
” Knox growled ¹¹. He slapped his hand across the floors of themidthirties. “We just do it in the dark. Like these levels here are dark to us. But now I mean to shinea light in their rat hole and scare them out, see what else they’re hiding.”,　　“You understand what they’ve been doing, right? ” Marck turned to Courtnee. “They’ve beensending people out to die. On purpose. Not because it had to happen, but because they wanted it to!
”,　　Courtnee bit her lip and didn’t say anything, just stared at the blueprint.,　　“We need to get going,” Knox said. “Walker, get that wire out. Let’s load up. And think ofsomething pleasant to chat about while we’re on the move. No grumbling ¹² about this where someporter can hear and make a chit or two ratting us out. ”,His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来
。,The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。