“Why?” J.B. demanded. “There’s nothing out here but sand and sun.”
A sly, almost abashed smile played over Danielson’s whiskered face. “I’d made copies of some of Marsh Folsom’s maps, y’see.”
Everyone understood. Marsh Folsom had been the Trader’s partner and the primary reason why he had been so successful in ferreting out predark stockpiles. Folsom had a collection of old military maps that at best specifically pinpointed stockpile locations and at worst provided clues to areas of possibility.
“So you thought there was a stockpile out here in the Barrens,” Ryan said.
“Yeah,” Danielson replied. “If not a stockpile, then some sort of installation I could use to build a power base. I figured I wouldn’t have any competition out here.”
It was the old Deathlands dream of empire, of carving out a substantial piece of territory and building a personal fiefdom to extort tribute from the surrounding areas.
“By the time we got out here and built this place,” Danielson continued, “there was about fifty adults, ten, twelve teenagers and some kids. A couple of babies. I organized us like the way Trader had done. Connie Harrier was my woman and my second-in-command. My first lieutenant was Mel Stockbridge. And after him was old Javna.”
Danielson’s eyes seemed to cloud over as he looked into the past, his voice growing hushed with the weight of memories. “After we got the fort built, we spent a few months searching the Barrens, looking for the place on the map. By that time, our food was running low. We had to find it, or we’d starve. Then one day we found the place. The redoubt. And we found him. Or he found us. Don’t know which is which no more.”
“Found who?” Krysty asked. Although her voice was crisp, her eyes were narrowed.
“Akhnaton, our pharaoh. Our god.” Danielson laughed bitterly. “He’d been waiting in his tomb for his people, you see. We strolled up and we became his people. Just as simple as that.”
“And you just let him take over?” Ryan asked.
“Didn’t have much choice. Javna tried to throw down on him, and he chilled the old fart as easy as swatting a fly. He took Connie into his tomb and did something to her insides so she could bear him children.”
“Did Connie have red hair and green eyes, by chance?” Mildred asked.
“No, her hair was dark. Blue eyes. I think. Hard to remember now.” Danielson’s voice sank to a slur, his eyes going vague as he looked back over the years to a time that still caused him anguish.
He spoke of Akhnaton arriving in Fort Fubar with ration packs from the redoubt, which he distributed among the strongest of the Farers and the healthiest children. No one resisted him. Rather, they worshiped him almost immediately, their former loyalty to Danielson evaporating like a drop of water in the desert at high noon.
Later, when the chosen Farers had regained their strength, Akhnaton led them farther into the Barrens, to excavate his royal city, the city of Aten.
“Hold it,” Mildred snapped. “Excavated? You mean there was a city already out there?”
Danielson nodded. “Oh, yeah. Buried in the sand, but most of it was still intact, even all the statues—”
“Wait,” Mildred interrupted again. “You expect us to believe the city of Aten was out there in the desert, waiting for him?”
Impatiently, Danielson retorted, “That’s what I said, isn’t it? Anyhow, once the sand was all cleared away, Pharaoh set about making the city livable, repairing it, fixing it up, establishing our society. He knew ways to irrigate the plains and grow crops, he designed the chariots and the metauh rods. He shared all the ancient arts of the people of the Nile with us.”
A slight smile tugged at the corners of the old man’s lips. “It was a happy time, productive and busy. He named me and Stockbridge as high counselors. He took Connie to wife in a ceremony that lasted a week.”
Doc eyed him keenly. “And you did not resent having your woman stolen from you?”
Danielson’s face screwed up in contemplation. “I’ve thought about that off and on for the last sixteen years. I sure as hell should have been jealous. I remember feeling jealous for a little while, then it went away…it was like I couldn’t feel jealous, no matter how hard I tried.”