Jak felt twitchy. He’d felt that way since Doc had pointed out their location. “We sleep, then move?” he queried.
“Why move on so quickly?” Mildred asked, puzzled. Like the others, she had picked up that Jak was worried. It was obvious from his demeanor.
Jak shrugged in reply. “Not been in redoubt yet without trouble.”
Ryan fixed Jak with his steely blue eye. “But outside also means trouble. This is a good place to rest up for a few days, mebbe replenish our supplies. No, we’re not going yet.”
Jak shrugged, shrinking into an uneasy silence.
THE ALBINO’S UNEASE had created a tense atmosphere that could only be dispersed by their leaving the control room. Ryan sent Jak along with Dean and Doc to check out the dorms and kitchens, to look for fresh clothes and food. Mildred and Krysty went to the dispensary to see what medical supplies they could find that were still of some use. Meanwhile, the one-eyed warrior joined J.B. in checking out the armory.
As they had suspected, the redoubt was in full working order and almost untouched by the devastation that had occurred a hundred years before. There were plenty of self-heats in the kitchen, a set of fully working showers, clean uniforms, bedding and plenty of medical supplies that were usable. Even some of the drugs left in the dispensary could pass muster as painkillers and antibiotics…although what use they could be against the post skydark mutated viruses was debatable.
Most important, the armory was fully stocked, with the hardware, grens and ammo still freshly greased and boxed.
“It seems a shame to leave all this here,” J.B. said sadly as they loaded up with ammo.
“You know what Trader used to say—you can have the best blasters in the whole of Deathlands, but if there’s so many that you can’t untangle them in a firefight— ”
“—then you might as well have none at all,” J.B. finished. “Guess he was right. Still seems a damn shame, though.”
“I’m with you on that,” Ryan agreed, “but at least we know where this place is, and it doesn’t seem that anyone else does. And if we ever jump back here, we’ll have our own little stockpile.”
“I’ll have to be satisfied with that,” J.B. agreed. He added ruefully, “Let’s get out of here and eat before this breaks my heart.”
Ryan led the way and said nothing, although he was smiling to himself. It was the closest he had ever heard his taciturn friend get to expressing emotion, and it was inevitable that it would be about firepower.
THEY PASSED a comfortable night in the redoubt, and the next morning Dean and Mildred devoted themselves to trying to find some useful information on the comps while Ryan and J.B. decided to check out the exits from the redoubt.
The one concern Ryan had was that the redoubt would be completely cut off from the outside world. If a landfall or earth shift of some kind had led to the upper levels being damaged, and the elevator shafts and emergency stairwells were blocked, then they would have no choice but to jump. If, however, they were clear, then the fact that the redoubt had been left alone for so long suggested that they were in an area that was sparsely populated. Venturing above ground would be that much easier.
The elevators were working, and the men discovered that the upper levels were as well preserved as those that housed the mat-trans chamber, the dormitories, kitchens and armory.
“We could learn a lot about the redoubts from all this,” Ryan remarked as they inspected the array of offices and workrooms.
“Would it matter?” J.B. asked.
Ryan pondered. “Mebbe, mebbe not. Guess it’s mostly my own curiosity.”
“Well, remember that Jak doesn’t share it,” J.B. remarked pointedly.
“Yeah, me and Krysty were talking about that.”
Ryan said quietly after a pause. “She figures that something happened during the jump, mebbe some kind of doomie feeling that he doesn’t want to talk about.”
“Jak isn’t a doomie.”
Ryan grimaced. “Neither is Krysty, but sometimes you can’t tell with mutie blood. Mebbe it can hit you just once.”
“In which case I’d listen to it,” J.B. said grimly.