But whereas the others had recovered more rapidly than usual, Jak seemed to take longer, which was why Mildred leaned over him and voiced her concern.
“Yeah…okay, bad jump,” Jak answered her, wanting to keep his strange vision to himself.
Mildred looked at him askance. “Are you sure? We all recovered fairly quickly. Do you want me to give you a quick examination, just to check?”
Jak nodded. “Mebbe not bad thing,” he replied, for different reasons than she could interpret.
While Mildred checked the albino, finding that his pulse and respiration had recovered as usual, and that there were no other physical signs as to why he should have taken the jump differently to the rest of them, Ryan and J.B. prepared to secure the redoubt.
Ryan glanced over to Krysty, who shook her head almost imperceptibly. Ryan and the Armorer had already discussed their instinctive sense that the redoubt was empty. Caution was still necessary, but both men had been fighters and survivors too long not to have a sixth sense about danger in a new situation. And the one-eyed warrior always relied on Krysty’s mutie sense of nearby danger. He checked with her, noticed her hair flow freely as she moved her head. That was a good sign. “Let’s do it,” Ryan said softly. J.B. nodded silent agreement and waited as Ryan opened the armaglass door.
Keeping close to the floor and moving swiftly, the two men moved out into the anteroom, eyes scanning the area for the best cover. They moved on, into the control room beyond.
The air conditioning hummed as it had for a hundred years. The computer terminals in the room were on freestanding bases. A few notes were scribbled on the 2001 wall planners, but the different colored inks had faded over the years.
Ryan and J.B. secured the room, then continued to recce the corridors and rooms immediately adjacent. All were silent.
When the two men returned to the control room, Jak had fully recovered and was waiting with the others outside the mat-trans chamber.
“Don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this.”
Ryan said as he and J.B. joined their companions.
“It’s empty, and there’s no sign of any real damage.”
“That means I should be able to get some medical supplies to take along,” Mildred said, almost to herself. “It’s about time we had some luck there.”
J.B. allowed himself a rare smile. “Also means the armory should be intact. Mebbe I’ll even be spoiled for choice.”
“Well, my dear Ryan, perchance we can tarry a few days in exploration.”
Ryan turned to where Doc was standing. The old man had moved away from the group, drawn toward the maps and charts that were pinned to one wall. As Ryan watched, Doc turned back to the map he had been studying and tapped a point toward the northwest of the old United States with the end of his swordstick.
“According to this map, we are not far from the ruins of old Seattle, near Raw and the mysteries of the Illuminated Ones. We are headed in the right direction for the mysterious horn of plenty.”
“Hot pipe! Horn of what?” Dean asked. “C’mon, Doc, speak some kind of language I can understand!”
Doc indulged the youth. “My dear young Cawdor, a horn of plenty is that which is full to overflowing with that which you most desire…in this case, our departed friend Trader’s mythical land of stockpiles. Something keeps drawing us back to this area.”
“Yeah, the mat-trans,” J.B. drawled.
Jak said nothing, but suppressed a shiver at the mention of the ville of Raw and the Illuminated Ones. Coincidences like that didn’t fit with his view of the world, and he didn’t want to think about his dream.
“That may not be as funny as your intention, John Barrymore,” Doc chided. “It could possibly be that there are automatic settings on the mat-trans units that tend to direct traffic here if the units are fully functional.”
“You mean like an electronic beacon or computerized homing pigeon?” Mildred ventured.
Doc inclined his head gracefully. “Exactly, and so aptly put, my dear Dr. Wyeth. It would make sense, would it not, for any computerized devices to have an emergency setting. And what could be more of an emergency than the mat-trans being used after skydark—albeit several decades too late?”