Skydark Spawn. James Axler

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СКАЧАТЬ with a few wipes of his sleeve, but all that did was spread the mess around.

      Ryan’s son, Dean, had fared better than the others. He looked a bit dizzy, but was already able to stand. J. B. Dix sat with his back against one of the chamber’s walls. He’d lifted his head and had his eyes tightly closed as if he were in pain. He was struggling to catch his breath.

      “You all right, J.B.?” asked Ryan.

      The Armorer shook his head as he removed his wire-rimmed glasses from his shirt pocket and put them on. “Had a nightmare. I was alone in a forest somewhere. As I walked along a path, I was confronted by a huge mutie.”

      “Chill it?” Jak asked.

      “No, that’s the thing. It approached me and I leveled my blaster and squeezed the trigger…but the scattergun didn’t fire. I tried it again and again, but nothing. The creature kept coming, but the blaster wouldn’t fire. Dark night! Didn’t know what was wrong with it because I’d just finished stripping and cleaning it in my dream. So there I was, pointing a dead blaster at a mutie just itching to chill me.”

      “And did it?” Mildred Wyeth asked.

      “Tore me to pieces with a set of talons as long and sharp as my Tekna. And I couldn’t even wake up. Hurt like hell.”

      Ryan looked at Mildred, wondering if the dream meant anything.

      “Performance anxiety,” Mildred stated.

      “What? I don’t have any problems with that.”

      “No, I don’t mean sexual performance, John,” Mildred chided. “Our lives often depend on your knowledge. My guess is that lurking somewhere in your subconscious you have a fear that at some point, when it matters most, you’ll let one of us down.”

      “But I was the one who was chilled.”

      “Yeah, and that’s probably the way you’d want it to happen if it ever did.”

      “Not worry,” Jak said, putting a hand on J.B.’s shoulder. “Not let us down.”

      “Thanks.”

      The few moments Mildred had spent analyzing J.B.’s dream had done wonders to revitalize the group. Krysty Wroth was showing signs of coming around, and the rest of the companions were on their feet but still pretty groggy.

      “I suspect,” Doc said, tapping the silver lion’s-head handle of his swordstick against the walls of the chamber, “that this mat-trans is not constructed of armaglass as is customary.”

      Ryan raised his arm and pounded the butt of his SIG-Sauer against one of the dark charcoal-gray walls. Instead of the familiar tink of reinforced glass, his ears were met with the sound of a dull, hard thud. “Concrete,” he stated.

      “Not only that, but look at the LD button,” J.B. suggested.

      Ryan scanned the walls, realizing that this chamber wasn’t equipped with a Last Destination button. “There is no button,” he said.

      “What does that mean?” Mildred asked.

      “Not sure,” Ryan replied.

      “Maybe it’s a one-way chamber,” J.B. opined.

      “What would you need one of those for?” Mildred asked.

      “Who knows?” J.B. answered. “It’s just a thought.”

      “The motivations of your predark government have baffled me at the best of times,” Doc stated. “Add another puzzle to the file for future reference.”

      Ryan agreed with Doc. Whatever the reason behind this installation’s construction, it would be made clear to them soon enough.

      “At least we’re alive,” Krysty stated.

      Ryan turned and saw that Krysty was stirring. Her sentient hair had unfurled and was now stretching to its full length, falling over her shoulders like red waves. “How are you, lover?”

      “I’ve had worse jumps,” she answered. “Any idea where we might have ended up?”

      Ryan shook his head. It was possible to get an idea of the chamber’s location by the color of its armaglass walls, but they’d never been in this gateway before.

      “I’ll take a reading with my sextant when we get outside,” J.B. said. “Hopefully the skies will be clear.”

      Ryan sat down with his back up against one of the room’s six walls. Now that he knew his companions were all right, he decided to give himself some time to recover from the jump. This one had been easier than most, but he still had a fireblasted headache.

      FIFTEEN MINUTES PASSED before the group had recovered and Ryan could risk opening the chamber door. As they’d learned over time, the friends needed to be on triple alert when entering a redoubt, never knowing who or what lay beyond the door. Anyone or anything could have discovered a break in the solid concrete walls and found a way inside.

      “Triple red, people,” Ryan said, putting his hand on the door. He looked around the group, making sure that each of his friends was prepared for whatever might be out there. Krysty had her Smith & Wesson .38 at the ready, while Doc clutched his LeMat blaster. Mildred had her Czech-built target revolver in her right hand, bracing her right arm at the wrist with her left hand to steady it. J.B. had opted for his scattergun, despite its worrisome malfunction in his dream. Dean leveled his Browning Hi-Power and Jak brought up the rear with his Colt Python. Ryan had his SIG-Sauer ready, but since he was opening the door, it was unlikely he’d be the one taking the first shot in the event of trouble.

      “Ready?” Ryan asked one last time.

      Everyone nodded.

      He opened the door to an empty room.

      After a few moments of tension, the companions relaxed somewhat. The room was small and completely bare. The walls were made of cinder blocks, and the floor and ceiling had been constructed of poured concrete. When the door had opened, a single, naked bulb close to the high ceiling switched on, casting a dim light into the room. The room’s main feature was a concrete staircase that led almost straight up thirty or more feet before terminating at a landing that was about four feet directly below a set of large doors. The doors appeared to serve as a hatchway.

      “What do you make of that?” Ryan asked.

      “Strange,” Jak commented.

      There was no arguing with Jak’s logic. The entrance to the redoubt was like nothing Ryan had seen before.

      “Hey, there isn’t even a handle on the outside of the chamber,” Krysty said.

      Ryan turned to take another look at the chamber and saw that what Krysty had said was true. If they shut the door they wouldn’t be able to use the chamber again.

      “Looks like this really is a one-way chamber,” J.B. said. “And that—” he gestured to the stairway “—looks like the only way out.”

      “Well, if that’s the only way out, we should quit standing СКАЧАТЬ