“It’s incredible to believe that there are so many of these old predark places across the land, and that despite that so few have found them,” she said to him.
“Yeah, but most of them are so well hidden or disguised that you have to know that they’re there,” Dean told her, pleased to see his mother attentive to his every word. “The only reason we’re using them is that Doc, Dad and J.B. found one. And unlike most people who ever found them, they don’t just loot them. They’re interested in working out how to use the mat-trans.”
“The what?”
Dean smiled. “That’s the really great part. The mat-trans is how we travel. It’s an old comp system that kind of breaks you up into little bits, then shoots you across Deathlands to another chamber where you get put back together again. Of course, it’s a bit more complex than that.”
Sharona shook her head. “Those whitecoats before the nukecaust sure were sick bastards.”
“I don’t know,” Dean said, his face falling. “It’s not so bad.”
Seeing how her son was crestfallen, Sharona added quickly, “Well, I guess it depends how you use it. I mean, if you can use it to go where you want…”
Dean grimaced. “I didn’t exactly say that.” And when she gave him a questioning gaze, he continued. “The thing is, it’s kind of random. We know how to trigger it, but there aren’t any manuals or instructions for how to get past the sec codes in the comps to programme a destination, and they have this random setting where every time you trigger the chamber, it’ll send you a different place. If I could work out the sec fail safe, then we’d really be able to use it for wherever we want. But now it’s kind of wherever it sends us.”
“So you don’t actually know where you’re going.”
“No,” he admitted.
“And you couldn’t replicate a jump from here?”
“No,” he said, a little puzzled. “But why would you want to?”
“I didn’t say you would. I was just pointing out that mebbe you need to do a little more work on this old tech. And mebbe your dad doesn’t really give you that time.”
“What do you mean?” Dean queried.
Sharona shrugged. “Well, it seems like he’s always keen to move on all the time. Mebbe it wouldn’t hurt just to stand still for a while. That’s what I’d like—a chance to stay and just get to know you again.”
“But you’ll get to know me the longer you stay with us,” Dean said in a tone of voice that indicated he thought it was obvious.
Sharona grimaced. “I really don’t know if I can travel with you.”
Dean was shocked. “But you said—”
“I know what I said, but the truth of the matter is that I just can’t see me getting on with your father or with Krysty. They’re suspicious of me, and mebbe they’re right to be. After all, they’ve been looking after you for one hell of a time, and where have I been?”
“But that wasn’t your fault!”
“Doesn’t matter. It’s not a question of fault. It’s just a fact that they’ve been there and I haven’t. Which means that I resent them for that, even though it’s not something they did on purpose, and they resent me for suddenly appearing, even though I didn’t plan it this way. That’s just the way it is.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Dean said softly. “I just figured everyone would be as pleased as I was.”
“Never mind.” Sharona ruffled his hair. “Sometimes things just don’t go as you planned them. You should know that by now!”
“Guess not. So what do you want to see next?” he added in a bright voice, trying to change the subject.
“I don’t know. You decide,” his mother replied.
Dean took Sharona by the hand and led her out of the mat-trans control room, not noticing the way she looked back over her shoulder with a thoughtful expression.
“IT DOESN’T MATTER what you say, we have to move sooner or later,” Ryan said in an exasperated voice. “Fireblast and fuck it, haven’t you listened to a thing anyone has said?”