James Axler – Keepers of the Sun

“What?”

“During the time that the whitecoats held me prisoner, I was involved in some of the Totality Concept’s war games. A large house in Wyoming. Very hush-hush.”

“What’s any of this crap got to do with Japan, Doc?” Mildred asked.

“Oh, a great deal, my dear Doctor. During these games they would program their computers with all sorts of data for a potential nuclear holocaust. What it might do to the various parts of the world.” He laughed. “Needless to say, none of these doomsday scenarios included the possibility that the United States would find itself among the losers.”

Ryan was eager to get moving out of the corridor. “What about Japan?”

“Indeed, yes, my dear friend. What about Japan?” Doc blinked his milky blue eyes, recovering himself. “Ah, yes. Their prediction for the Far East was that virtually the whole of Japan would be wiped away by quakes and eruptions and swamped by tsunamis, the tidal waves triggered by massive undersea quakes along the known tectonic fault lines.”

“The whole country destroyed?” J.B. asked.

“They predicted that there would be some slight damage to California,” Doc said.

Ryan laughed, the sound quickly muffled. “Slight damage. California disappeared overnight. Just the western islands there now, with cliffs rising straight up into the big Sierras. Real good prediction, Doc.”

“As far as Japan was concerned, my somewhat blurred recollection was that they expected massive destruction. Hokkaido at the north would vanish, as would Kyushu and Shikoku in the south. Much of the main island of Honshu lies abreast classic fault lines and would be devastated. Their computer plan showed just the western section of Honshu being spared, with Hiroshima the main center of the population.”

They considered that for some time.

It was common knowledge what had happened to the old United States that had become Deathlands. Massive structural and climatic changes had taken place, with whole slices of the West Coast falling into the Pacific. Deserts had become mountains, and peaks turned into lakes.

But there was little knowledge of what had happened in the rest of the world.

Europe was supposed to be a plague-ridden pesthole, covered in rad hot spots, some of them rumored to last for ten thousand years or more.

“So, if your whitecoats were correct, then we’re probably in that bit of Japan that’s left. What did you say that it was called, Doc?”

“Honshu, Ryan. The western section of Honshu Island. But I would never place much credence on the diseased frothings of a whitecoat.”

“Me neither, Doc. Rather put my dick in a rattler’s mouth.”

“Nice image, lover,” Krysty said, grinning.

“You could say it was short and to the point, sister,” Mildred said, sniggering.

“You might say that, Mildred, but you can’t possibly expect me to comment on it.”

Both women giggled, while Ryan felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment, which he covered by becoming businesslike and efficient. “Can’t stay here fooling around,” he said. “Best we get to carrying out a careful recce. I’ll lead the way. Jak come second but stay a safe distance back. No way of knowing what we might find once we start to explore.”

THE EXPLORATION DIDN’T take long. Ryan walked around the curving passage for about thirty paces, until he came to a small elevator that blocked it off, with a comp-control panel set into the wall at its side. The door was closed.

Six digits were neatly printed on the pale concrete, at chest height, in peculiarly angular numbering six, two, eight, three, four and one.

“Entry code,” the Armorer said. “Has to be.”

Ryan nodded. He looked around in the hope of finding a staircase of some sort that would remove the need to take the elevator, but there was nothing at all.

“Don’t like it,” he said. “Get in there, and we’re like salmon in a beer keg.”

“Could go and jump out of here,” Mildred suggested, but there was little conviction in her voice, and she got no response from the others. Smiling to herself, she added, “Then again, Mildred, maybe we can just go and get ourselves chilled by a band of nice samurai warriors with big swords.”

“Long as only got swords, can chill them first,” Jak said, running his fingers through his snowy hair.