“But Dr.-” one of the men protested.
Jamaisvous fixed the sec man with a stony look. “Silence! Do as you are told. If you wish to assist, please inform the kitchen we have company for din- ner. I’ll be along shortly to discuss the meal in greater detail.”
“WHERE is THIS PLACE, anyway?” J.B. asked as Ja-maisvous led them upward out of the secured mat-trans chamber and into the antique-appointed fortress interior. “Doesn’t look like any redoubt I’ve ever seen.”
“This isn’t a redoubt,” Jamaisvous replied. “Other than some rudimentary remodeling by myself, the gateway and control you saw in the lowest level are the only hints of any links to Project Cerberus, Operation Chronos or even the Totality Concept. You’ve arrived in Puerto Rico, Mr. Dix, and this is the famed El Mono Fortress, which has stood watch over the waters here for hundreds of years, and will still be standing after hundreds more and all of us are dust.”
“Funny, you don’t look Puerto Rican,” Mildred noted.
“I’m not. Originally I’m from Ohio by way of Ireland. I take it all of you are from the United States?”
“Has a new name now,” Ryan said. “Most call it Deathlands.”
‘ ‘How… charming.”
“A man can survive there if he’s mean enough and smart enough. Some go out and take up home-steading on their own piece of land, but you’d better be ready to defend it against muties and thieves. If you want safety, there are populated areas scattered up and down the eastern coast, and westward,”
“Then civilization can still be found?”
“Didn’t say anything about Deathlands being civilized. Plenty of pestholes with nothing more than a place to drink and sleep if you’re traveling. Bigger areas with towns and a sort of government breaks down into two basic types of communities-villes and baronies. Villes tend to be a touch more democratic than baronies, which are usually a dictatorship.”
“I see. I’m not wholly familiar with how you are using the terms baronies and villes, Mr. Cawdor, but I can make an educated guess.”
“Usually a barony is safe enough as long as you stay out of the ruling baron’s way,” Krysty added. “And if you don’t mind being cowed and walking around with your tail between your legs on a daily basis.”
“That the situation here?” Ryan asked bluntly. “You the boss?”
“No. I have my small staff here in El Morro. What goes on outside these stone walls is no concern of mine. I do think you’ll find life here a tad less restrictive and less threatening than what you appear to be used to.”
Jamaisvous gave them all a quick lesson regarding the new land in which they had now taken involuntary residence. Roughly rectangular in shape, Puerto Rico was one hundred miles from east to west, and thirty-five miles from north to south, three times wider than it was tall. Within such a limited space, the island had once possessed it all in terms of a pleasant lifestyle-now, according to Jamaisvous, only the eastern half was habitable.
“El Morro is on Old San Juan-a miniisland, really, located in San Juan harbor. New San Juan- rather, what is left of New San Juan-is on the mainland,” then- host said.
“What can you tell us about this place?”
“What do you want to know? Old San Juan was a tourist mecca. New San Juan was the most advanced city in Puerto Rico. Together, they created a thriving economy up until the Third World War. Now nothing remains but a scattering of communities, not unlike the villes you described earlier. As far as I can tell, there was severe famine after the war and many of the inhabitants perished, leaving only a few survivors to repopulate.”
“So what is the political situation here? Barons? Leaders?” Mildred asked.
Jamaisvous shrugged. “Most of the people here are too poor to think of such aggrandizement. Leaders here are born or made, not bought or elected.”
“You said you were in cryo sleep.”
“Correct.”
“Where are the cryo facilities?” Mildred asked.
“Miles away,” the man replied cryptically. “Miles away in the true Puerto Rican redoubt-at least, the only redoubt on this side of the island. I was forced to leave the secure area I awakened in because of problems with the base’s nuclear generator.”