“Because I’m a searcher, Ryan,” Shaker said. He paced, but carefully remained out of the firezones necessary to his sec men. “I was brought up by a very idealistic father compared to most of the power mongers you see in Deathlands. He taught me to read, taught me a love for the history books concerning the time before the nukecaust. He was convinced that something more happened a hundred years ago than just the genocide of the world.”
The line of thinking reminded Ryan of the talks he’d had with the Heimdall Foundation people.
“I’ve spent time and part of the considerable wealth my father has left me, and to which I’ve added, in the pursuit of certain knowledge.”
“About things before the nukecaust,” Krysty said. And the way she said it let Ryan know she hadn’t sensed any lies in the man’s words.
“Exactly,” Shaker confirmed.
“Don’t see that it would matter one way or another,” Ryan growled. “Time’s going forward, not backward.”
Shaker took no offense, shrugging off the comment. “Once, when I was young, I thought in the same fashion. But I’ve changed my mind. Think of it, Ryan, if we could recover but a fraction of the knowledge that was lost during the nukecaust, so much could be gained.”
“By you?” Ryan asked softly.
A fork of lightning flared outside the window, washing all the subdued color out of the darkness, illuminating the room in electric white.
“By anyone who takes the time to learn,” Shaker said. “Byrne.”
“You ever think mebbe all that knowledge was what brought about the nukecaust in the first place?” Ryan asked.
“There’s some who believe mebbe the nukecaust was brought about by an outside force,” Shaker stated.
“It was war that destroyed the world,” Krysty said. “Paranoia fed by a nuke arsenal.”
“I don’t know if I completely believe that.”
“Then what do you believe?” Ryan asked.
“I believe that a few months ago an abandoned space station fell from the sky,” Shaker said. “Its orbit decayed, and it fell from the heavens, breaking up as it reentered the atmosphere. I’ve been told that one of the pieces landed very near this place. Mebbe only a little farther north. Do you know anything about that?”
Ryan lied. “No. But you pay attention at night, you see lots of things burning up as they come down. How sure are you that it didn’t just burn up? Even if you’re right?”
“Because I’ve recovered one of the pieces,” Shaker said. “And I want the others.”
“We don’t have any.”
“Just letting you know,” Shaker said. “There are others out trying to get those pieces. Some of them work for the Heimdall Foundation. They’re not taking my interest in the pieces very well.”
Ryan returned the baron’s inquisitive glance full measure, registering nothing about the name.
“You ever heard of the Heimdall Foundation?”
“No.”
Shaker hesitated, as if trying to figure out his next line of attack.
“Ryan,” J.B. called from the other end of the room. The Armorer stood in the doorway of another room that led into the room where Ryan confronted Shaker. “Time to go. Rain’s letting up, and we need shut-eye. No telling when it’ll start again, or when it’ll let up next time.” J.B. stood with his Uzi peeking from under his jacket.
Ryan nodded. “Guess we’ll be going.”
The baron’s sec men started to move forward on an interception course. Shaker waved them down. “Another time.”
“Mebbe,” Ryan said. He put Krysty beside and behind him, using his body to shield her. Then he left the room, following J.B.
“Everybody’s ready to quit the ball,” the Armorer said. “Except Doc.”
“He’ll be along,” Ryan said. A glance behind him showed that Shaker and his people were making no attempt to follow.
“SHAKER WAS TELLING the truth about the space station,” Krysty said. She lay beside Ryan in the quiet dark of the barn. He’d chosen to make their bed in the hayloft where they had a view of the trading post’s inner courtyard.
“As far as he knows it,” Ryan agreed. “Did he believe we didn’t know anything about it?”
“No.” Even though Ryan was lowering his voice, listening to him made Krysty’s head ache even more fiercely than it had an hour ago. She hadn’t mentioned it, but the dinner had been spent in sheer agony.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128