James Axler – Deathlands 35 – Skydark

“I remember,” Krysty said.

“Good.” He smiled at her warmly. “From my study of the treasures of the Apocalypticon, I’ve learned one of the secrets of history. There is a single key to the forging of an empire that will outlast its creator. And that is, the siring of a true heir. In this case, one who carries Armageddon’s gift of the third, all-seeing eye, one who believes in freedom and respect for all the mutant peoples. If a true heir does not appear to carry the standard, our noble cause is lost just as it begins.”

“I understand,” she said.

“Angelica, you and I will give our people such a prince, a prince to lead them into the future. He will be the fruit of our coupled loins.”

“Does it have to be a prince?” she asked.

Kaa’s brows furrowed in momentary confusion. “What?”

“Couldn’t it be a princess?” Krysty said.

He laughed. “Yes, of course. External sexual characteristics don’t matter in the least. It is the seeing and the believing that matters, and possessing the will to complete the task.” He caught both her hands in his. They were lost between his huge palms. “I ask you, Angelica, will you bear my offspring? My prince or princess? Will you help me breathe life into my beautiful dream?”

Tears rolled down Krysty’s cheeks. She was surprised to discover that she was no longer afraid of giving birth to a gaggle of monsters, needle toothed or otherwise. Monsters were long-suffering, noble, ill-used, capable of greatness, as Kaa had proved. Not degenerate, but evolving. If what he proposed was her destiny, who was she to question it?

“It would be my honor,” she said, and she kissed the back of his hairless hand.

By the time Jak returned with the stickies, the zoo muties had scrubbed out the gateway chamber. Kaa ordered the plastic bags moved into the mat-trans unit and when they were inside, he said, “There’s only room for four travelers this first jump. Angelica, you will of course accompany me.”

“I want Jak to come with us,” she said.

Kaa nodded.

“And lion?” Jak asked.

“Of course.”

Kaa cracked open the chamber’s control panel and made a few necessary adjustments so they could reach their intended destination. Krysty and Jak joined him

inside the gateway, but the lion refused to enter the chamber with them. It stood outside, roared ferociously and swiped at the air with its paw. And when Jak wouldn’t come out, the lion tried to entice him by leaping around playfully and chasing its tail.

“I don’t want to leave him,” Jak said.

“It’ll be all right,” Kaa assured him. “It’ll be safe here with the others. We’ll be back shortly with another group of stickies, and you can rejoin it then.”

Jak stuck his head out of the chamber door, and the lion licked him from neck to forehead.

Then Lord Kaa pulled the door closed. Because the door was shut, he didn’t hear the clack and whine of the elevator as it started back up for the surface.

RYAN AND HIS FRIENDS lost sight of their quarry as evening fell over the long valley. They had followed them down the highway for many, many hours. It was all they could do to dog their trail; they were unable to make up any of the ground that separated them because the muties kept up such a chiller pace. Before they lost them in the lengthening purple shadows of the slope leading to the redoubt, Ryan and the others did get a better view of the people they were tracking, a view unobstructed by haze, glare and mirage. It was pretty obvious to all of them that Jak and Krysty were in the group, and that Kaa was in the lead. He loomed so much larger than the others, they looked like children tagging along behind him. They were too far away to be able to tell if Krysty

and Jak were being held at blasterpoint, or if they were tied or chained to the others.

Ryan figured they were at least twenty minutes behind Kaa, which translated into almost a two-mile gap at their current pace. He didn’t dare drive his companions any faster; he couldn’t really, since they were pushing themselves as hard as they could go. If they pressed further, they wouldn’t have anything left for the fight, when it came to that And he knew it would.