“Nothing. Corridor’s clear,” he reported as he got back on his feet and activated the lever to bring the doorway open to full access.
Ryan took the lead, and the others joined him in stepping outside the doorway, finding themselves in a wide, curving passage with an arched roof. It was about twenty feet wide, and the ceiling was roughly fifteen feet at the highest point. Concealed strip lighting flickered, casting gray shadows across the expanse of the corridor. When they had last traveled along this passageway, things were deserted, but still in order.
The same mold and signs of water damage that had been inside the mat-trans control room were also evident here. Ryan glanced back over his shoulder. A familiar sign to all of the gateway travelers announced: Entry Absolutely Forbidden To All But B12-Cleared Personnel. The warning hung lopsidedly in a broken frame next to the door.
“I’ll take the point. Krysty, you’re behind me. Then Dean, Doc and Jak,” Ryan said.
“I’ll bring up the rear,” J.B. stated, acknowledging the order of their usual skirmish line, with the addition of Mildred, who had come out after checking the computers.
“Hot,” Jak said, taking off his outer jacket and tying the sleeves around his waist. The albino’s one word summed up the situation for all of them, and the youth was used to living in areas washed with humidity. The interior of the redoubt was much warmer than before, and Ryan knew it wasn’t going to get any cooler as they approached the way outside.
“Some fresh air would be nice, lover,” Krysty murmured to Ryan. “I’m about to roast in my boots.”
Less than two minutes later, the party faced a huge pair of sec doors that stretched from floor to ceiling. The decorator’s choice of color for the doors was a shade of green that reminded Ryan for a moment of the dream he’d experienced while jumping. Sea green. Before seeing the ocean for the first time, Ryan had been under the fallacy that the waters were blue.
“Nothing’s ever what it seems in Deathlands,” Ryan said aloud.
He stared at the small control panel of letters and numbers for the vanadium-steel sec doors, then punched in the usual code of 3-5-2 and waited for the door to respond.
“Dad, you want me to—?”
“Quiet, son. I think you’ve done enough for one day, don’t you?” Ryan said, peering down at Dean’s excited, then rueful, young face. “Everyone stay ready—triple red. We still don’t know what’s behind this door.”
Everyone watched the doors and waited.
Nothing.
Then, after long, sweaty seconds of anticipation, the hydraulics for the doors hissed to life. Like a great gaping mouth in the middle of a yawn, the doors slid ponderously upward into their ceiling slot, revealing the interior of a gaping maw. Ryan had half expected to see trapped water pour in, but was relieved to see Mildred’s hypothesized flood had passed on.
Beyond the doors was an identical passage, except this one was damaged even more. The floor was littered with cracks ranging in size from hairline to three feet across. Evidence of a past onslaught of water was visible, but so was structural damage and chunks of debris. The room was nightmarish in the flickering light of the damaged tubes, making movement seem slower in the steady strobe.
The concrete walls, normally cool and dry to the touch, felt warm and damp. Either something had happened above in Greenglades—something drastic enough to affect even the highly protected redoubt— or the redoubt had been discovered by parties unknown who had blasted their way inside.
Neither scenario was one Ryan found comforting.
Above them along the arched roof were sec vids, but the rectangular cameras were dead. Before, the little gadgets had been quite active, tracking their every step with tiny red electronic eyes.
“Automatics are down,” J.B. said. “Last time, we triggered them when we stepped out into the corridor.”
“Explains the heat,” Ryan agreed. “What juice left in this redoubt must be on bare life support. Emergency lights and oxygen, and that’s about it. No extra power for air-conditioning.” He turned and looked at Mildred, who had just rejoined the group. “Farther along we get, the more I have to agree with you. This place has completely shot its wad. Atomics must be down to nil.”