>[Day 5 - Late Afternoon - Nikol's Apartment]
>
>P'ker walked up the four steps into the unjoined barracks and down a
>short corridor.  He knocked on the stout wooden door and waited.

     It was almost a shock to have someone knock on the door.  Nikol glanced
around the apartment to see if it was acceptable then realized that he had
not been there long enough to even completely unpack, let alone make a mess.
He dusted himself odd self consiously and went to the door.

>He heard footsteps approach and the door opened.  Nikol looked at the
>dark skinned man at his door and said, "Can I help you?"
>
>"You must be Nikol, I'm P'ker," he said extending his hand, "Seth sent
>me to see you."
>
>"Oh?" Nikol replied.
>
>"Yes.  I went to see him about construction of new apartments at the
>south end of the Cleft, and he told me to see the man who would be doing
>the job."
>
>"If they need to be blasted, then you've come to the right person,"
>Nikol stepped back, "Please come in."
>
>P'ker followed him in and noted the sparse furnishings.  They sat at a
>table, and P'ker pulled several sheets of paper from his pocket,
>unfolded them and laid them on the table.  He slid them across to Nikol,
>who laid the sheets next to each other.

     Nikol was thankful that he had managed to scrounge up a few chairs and
a table.  He made a mental note to talk to the wood crafter in the morning
about a proper lab bench.

>"This is the existing warren apartments," P'ker pointed out, "Over here
>is the existing overhang at the south end of the Cleft," he shifted the
>focus to another sheet of paper, "I think we can add 20 more apartments
>by excavating the overhang like this.  What do you think?"

     The plans were well drawn and of the standard design.  Nikol assessed
the quality of the plans at a glance and decided he would trust them on the
basic measurements.  The warren seemd to have its own crew of surveyers and
they wouldn't be so lax as to let the draft contain any glaring errors.  "It
looks all right at first but i will have to see the rock face for myself.
I'd hate to make a cut that brought the whole overhang down.  That woud
block the job for months.  But why go for just twenty apartments?"

   P'ker looked down and shook his head.  "What do you mean, given the
standard shape that is all that will fit along the overhang."

     "Along, yes.  But . . . "  Nikol scrounged back into his bag and pulled
out a stup of a charcoal pencil.  With short blunt lines he started an
outline of a second set of apartments _above_ the overhang.  "If we make
another set here, like so."  Silence as the lines connected and fleshed out
into a more spacious set of apartments.  "Then we could have thirty in this
area."

     "Most people object to having to go up the flights of stairs that would
be required."  P'ker spoke from experience.  He heard complaints from some
about the four steps up to some of the unjoined abodes in _this_ wing.

     "If we flatten out the overhang then there will be a huge patio like
front area.  I think some of the dragons could actually land and visit with
the owners of the apartment.  The summer sun will hit that part of the rock
face almost right until sundown.  Back home people would fight _for_ the
right to go up the stairs to the upper apartments.  And if it is assigned to
riders then they won't be walking up the stairs as often as being 'dropped
off'."

     Pker nodded slowly.  "I'll have to clear it with Seth but it looks like
a good idea.  Do you want to start blasting tomorrow on the lower set?"

     Nikol gave a short bark of laughter.  "No, maybe by the end of the
week.  I have to make my own measurements, evaluate the structural
strengths, build the charges . . . no, it is going to be days before
anything goes BOOM.  Can you take me across to the cliff tomorrow morning
and we can get started?"

     The little dark man agreed and they chatted about inconsequential
things until it was dinner time.  Nikol got the name of someone to make him
some furniture and P'ker got a few 'firecrackers' for his children.    They
ate together in the communal room and Nikol was brought up to date on the
comings and goings of the riders and their dragons, as seen from a member of
the warren who worked in the background.

<<<nrpg>>>
Now if that isn't a tag for someone to fill in.  A view from 'below Decks'
of how the high and mighty come and go.  Sure, we are all heros in the
gretaer sense of the world but how have you been treating the 'help'?

mike--->who has heard reports of his own behaviour before