“Through the door at the front.”
Both foreheads wrinkled, and both men raised hands to stroke their chins. The idea of someone making their way into the redoubt through the front door was a thought too far.
“Someone told me the code.”
“You know about three and five and two?” both men said together.
“Sure. Man called Trader told me, years ago. And two and five and three to close the sec door.”
The brothers stared at each other. “How does he know that, Mervyn?”
“Don’t know, Titus. He said that someone told him, didn’t he?”
Titus’s mouth opened wide, revealing a few rotting teeth and raw, bleeding gums. “Fucked if I remember, Mervyn.”
“Biggest secret we was ever told by Pa and his pa. Back to days of first fathers and first mothers and children. These outlanders know it.”
“Must be all right, Mervyn. Only us Guard knows it. Must be kin to us.”
The worry lines vanished, showing the blank face again. “Sure they must.”
Ryan picked up on it. “Distant cousins, is my guess, Mervyn and Titus. Now, how about some of that meat for your visiting cousins, huh?”
“Buffalo,” they said together.
“Told you,” Jak whispered.
“Nobody likes a smart ass,” Krysty replied.
THE MEAT WAS FINE, the buffalo ribs just a little blackened around the edges.
The fire had been built more or less in the center of the concrete floor, surrounded by scorched beams of concrete. The smoke found its way to the ceiling, where the air-conditioning got rid of it.
The brothers sat cross-legged, each with a plate of the meat on his lap. Titusat least Ryan thought it was Titushad disappeared and returned with seven more plates, all dirty, and seven spoons, all filthy.
Ryan noticed that they were stamped with the U.S. Army markings.
“How long you boys lived here?” he asked, as he munched on a chunk of meat, wishing that there had been some vegetables or some bread to go with it.
“All our days,” Mervyn replied. “Yeah, all our fuckin’ days.” It looked like Titus tried to speak at the same moment, but he nearly choked on a great chunk of the coarse-grained meat and ended up coughing and spluttering.
“How old are you?” Dean asked.
Both heads swiveled toward him like linked gun turrets, both pairs of eyes examining him curiously. “Don’t know,” they chorused. “Old as our teeth.”
“You had family?” J.B. had been wrestling for some time with a particularly gristly piece of meat, and he finally abandoned the struggle and spit it onto his plate.
Titus and Mervyn looked at each other for at least a minute, as though they were communicating telepathically.
“You tell him how it was, Mervyn,” Titus said.
Mervyn began to recite, hands folded in his lap, eyes closed, as if he were rattling off a tale that had been drummed into him years before.
“Skydark came and all ran from the redoubt. Many slept forever. After this came long winters when land slept. First father and mother with guard children came to redoubt from the small-house place. Found three-five-two after many days of counting and open came the great doors. Found two-five-three and closed. This was the power.”
Titus echoed him. “Amen and this was the power.”
“So it was. Guards forever. First father and mother slept. Children slept. Then came second fathers and mothers and children. After long winters they slept. But always guards. Yeah, always fuckin’ guards.”
“Don’t say ‘fuckin’ here,” Titus said. “Say it the right speaking way.”
“All well and this was home for many children and many fathers and mothers. Then came day of fire and white smoke in heart of Redoubt. Ever after, many fathers and mothers sleep younger. And less and less children borning.”
There was a long stillness. Ryan wasn’t sure if the saga was over as he looked at the others. “Skydark came and the place was evacuated. Local people from a nearby ville came here. Experimented for some time and stumbled on the number code.”
“A short and simple one that wouldn’t have taken an infinity of choices,” Doc said.
“Right. Everyone lived here. Good protection once they mastered the outer doors. Looks like they never got deeper into the section toward the gateway. Then there was A fire?”