[You never mind the salt, is what Val would say, if he were determined toward pettiness. He isn't, so he only thinks it, and makes sort of a face at Wysteria--so there--and does not put the book down.

The moment she unrolls her schematic, that all changes. The book might as well exist in a rift somewhere, for all that Val is thinking of it. He leans in to examine what is before him--then steps to the right, to examine from that angle--and then tips his head to the left, to examine from that angle--]

Ah, I see! The two reinforcement chambers--what are the dimensions, please? I must know. And the shape you have chosen is interesting--I was, early on, committed to a shape rather like a vase, but as you have it here, to lengthen its mouth--I believe that to be better-- How would its shot made to combust? Is there a marker on here to say? I had experimented with the slowmatch--useful in demolitions for mining, or even for construction, when one must level some geological obstacle--