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supplied back at the ville."
They crossed a vivid strip of open meadow, surrounded by the towering black
corpses of burned-out trees. The grass was lush, speckled with a variety of
colorful plants. Krysty identified mimulus and collinsia, with the delicate
orange of columbine and the flaming daggers of the Indian paintbrush.
"God's country," Mildred said, stretching her arms out wide, smiling broadly
for sheer pleasure of being alive. "Air like this should be nectar for poor
old Doc."
"You worried about him?" Ryan asked.
"Not exactly. There's this bizarre temporal anomaly about how old he really is
and how old he seems to be. Two totally different figures."
"I always think of him as being old." Dean waved his hand to disturb a swarm
of tiny gnats that had gathered around his head.
Mildred nodded. "Sure thing. Looks to be somewhere around the middle of his
seventies."
"Eighties on a bad day," Krysty said.
"No. Nineties on a real bad day," Mildred insisted.
"How old is he? There was all that time-jumping fucked up his body and mind."
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Ryan had often thought about that particular puzzle and had the answer ready.
"Born Theophilus Algernon Tanner, South Strafford, Vermont, February 14 in the
year of Our Lord 1868. Married his beloved Emily in June of 1891. Children
came along for them in 1893 and 1895."
"Rachel and Jolyon," J.B. added, fanning at the warm air with the brim of his
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fedora.
"Right. Then those sick whitecoat bastards time-trawled him forward to 1998,
102
years into his future."
"Not surprising his brain's gotten scrambled." Mildred took a drink from one
of the water containers that they'd been given by Steele.
Dean cursed at the insects. "Are we moving on?"
"Sure, Dean, and there's no need to curse. From my rad counter, it can't be
that far to the source of the leak."
Krysty bit her lip, worried. "Is that a good idea, lover? Going on? What do
you think, J.B.?"
"Reading's not really high enough to present us with a serious, immediate
health threat." J.B. checked the small counter on the lapel of his coat again.
"It looks like a long-term, slow-leak hot spot."
"Men exposed at Chernobyl that was a deadly serious Russian meltdown toward
the end of the twentieth century were only out unprotected for a minute or so,
trying to do some instant repair work. And they were nearly all dead within
months. Weeks, some of them."
Everyone looked at Mildred, startled into silence by her information.
Ryan sniffed. "That so? Heard the name. Didn't know it was that ferocious."
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"There are different kinds of radiation sickness."
She stared at the towering trees all around them.
"Some's quick and some's slow. Noticed quite a few of the men and women in the
ville showed signs of slow hair loss, sores on their faces, especially around
the mouth, bleeding gums, joint stiffness and problems in mobility. And, as we
already know, there's sterility for men and for women. So, no kids in
Hopeville."
"And then they have to steal from the Apaches," Ryan said. "Sounds like what
we remember about Joshua Wolfe. Trust him about so far " he held his thumb and
index finger an inch apart " and no farther. He wouldn't have an urge to take
young Dean, I'd guess."
"I'd shoot him, Dad. Already lost one parent, and I didn't like being away
from you when I was at the Brody School."
"No one will ever take you from me you know that, son." The light of love
glowed brightly in Ryan's eye.
"You think we're safe visiting this old 'complex,' lover? And how about
hanging around in the ville, so close to a hot spot. Might be safer to move
on."
Ryan turned to Krysty. "We aren't staying long. Couple of days or so. With Doc
being ill, it's mebbe better to keep to where he can be looked after."
"Still not happy."
Jak had wandered a little way ahead of where they'd all stopped, calling back,
"Think see it!"
IT WAS MUCH SMALLER than most of the other redoubts that they'd encountered,
scattered throughout Deathlands. Any thoughts that it might have concealed a
gateway were immediately dashed. There was every sign it was a place that had
been hastily built in the last days before skydark.
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time
The overgrown remains of a tarmac roundabout, edged with disintegrating
concrete posts about three feet high, stood in long grass, reminding Ryan of
the grave markers that he'd once seen dotting the abandoned battlefield of the
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Little
Bighorn.
The entrance to the redoubt gaped open, one of the double sec doors lying,
rusting, in the dirt. The other hung by only one of the set of massive hinges.
Even from thirty yards away, they could all smell the dank air.
Krysty sighed, closing her eyes in an expression of distaste. "Almost feel the
wickedness here," she said. "I know it's imagination, but I swear that I can
actually see the radiation poisoning seeping out of the black cavern, like a
great slow cloud of evil."
Ryan left her, walking to stand in the cold shadows of the entrance. He peered
into the blackness, listening to the dismal sound of water dripping from the
arched roof, some distance inside.
J.B. joined him, taking off his glasses to polish them on his sleeve. "Dark
night!
Smell of death. Not sure there's much point in going on to recce much farther.
Reckon we've seen most of what we need to see."
It was obvious that the redoubt had been completely stripped when it was
abandoned. The inside was bare and empty, glistening with a fluorescent green
moss that seemed to cover all the walls and stone floor.
Ryan pointed to a place higher up the side of the hill, where there had been a
vast earth shift, probably dating from very early in the days after the
heavens were clouded with thousands of missiles and the people died. Dead
trees leaned sideways, their rotting roots exposed to the sunlight.
"Quake probably broke it open inside. Set the main nuke-power source to
leaking.
If we went exploring, we'd probably find it cracked wide."
Jak, Dean and Mildred joined them, leaving Krysty standing alone in the bright
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Axler, James - Deathlands 44 - Crucible of Time sunshine.
"Going in?" Dean asked, his high voice muffled by the echoing space ahead of
them.
"No." Ryan studied the contours of the land above and around the entrance to
the old redoubt. "Shame, really," he said. "Look at that."
J.B. read his mind. "Yeah. It would have been real easy to do."
Mildred smiled at him. "You two are like identical twins, some of the time.
Symbiosis. Knowing precisely what the other one's thinking even before you
speak. It's kind of irritating to a mere outsider like me." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]