Free Deathlands 124: Child of Slaughter by James Axler Page B

weapons were spread over the upper bank of the shoreline, gleaming in the light washing over every inch of the enormous underground vault. “What…what is this place?”
    “Shh.” Ankh placed a crimson index finger against his lips. “Keep it down.”
    Doc frowned. “Why on earth would I do that?”
    Ankh lowered his voice. “You’re supposed to be Dr. Hammersmith, aren’t you?”
    Doc narrowed his eyes. “Of course.”
    “Well, here’s the thing,” Ankh said. “Dr. Hammersmith built this place.”
    As the implications came home to roost, Doc nodded slowly. “Ah. I see.”
    “It is our refuge.” Ankh gestured at the cavern around them. “One of them anyway. It is underground, and it is located in a still zone.”
    Doc shook his head at the way the light rippled on thesurface of the lake and danced over the chiseled gray walls. He was having a hard time accepting that this had somehow been created by one man. “What is a still zone, pray tell?”
    “A pocket of the Shift that does not change,” Ankh explained. “It is unaffected by the energies emanating from the core. This particular still zone, in fact, is unaffected because of special shielding installed by Dr. Hammersmith. Once the quicksand pulls you belowground and fills in above you, you may rest assured that your surroundings will not undergo any sort of transformation.”
    “The Shift can be controlled?” Doc asked.
    “Only blocked,” Ankh replied. “And only in a very few locations using equipment constructed by Hammersmith. But he did believe that control might be possible. He had a theory.”
    “He did, did he?” Doc coughed, then swallowed hard to break the jag. “And what was it, exactly?”
    “Only two people know,” Ankh said. “Hammersmith is one of them, and he is…you know.” He drew a finger across his throat. “As for the other, he is right over there.” Ankh pointed at a single mutie who was sitting apart from the rest, contemplating with a darkling gaze the recreation going on in the water.
    “Exo?” Doc coughed again. “He possesses a scientific mind?”
    “I never said that.” Ankh shrugged. “But Hammersmith did tell him the theory, and Exo is determined to bring it to life.”
    “To what end, I wonder?” Doc frowned. “Perhaps I can draw it out of him. After all, he ought to speak freely about it if I am the originator of said theory.”
    Ankh narrowed his dark brown eyes. “Exo has a blind spot where you’re concerned, and he thinks he needs you.But trust me, he is more than capable of making you suffer if you rub him the wrong way.”
    “Yes.” Doc nodded grimly, recalling the beating Exo had given him. “That has been made quite clear to me.”
    “You ought to keep that in mind,” Ankh said. “Never forget who holds the power in this society.”
    “An irrational creature prone to fits of extreme violence,” Doc replied. “The perfect individual to seize control of the transformative nature of the Shift.” Doc shook his head. “Why do your people follow him?”
    “He helped us overthrow a tyrant and survive a great disaster,” Ankh explained. “Though, to be honest, he was a different person then.”
    “In what way?”
    “One without brain damage.” Ankh gazed at Exo with an expression that might have been regret, then he turned away. “But that is neither here nor there.”
    “Brain damage?”
    Ankh cut a hand through the air in a gesture of finality. “Enough.” He got to his feet and dusted off the seat of his ragged camouflage pants. “If I were you, I’d enjoy this brief quiet time. There might not be another for quite a while.”
    “Sage advice.” Doc coughed as he, too, got up from the rocky slab. “Though I believe I will ask one more question, at the risk of overtaxing your hospitality.”
    Ankh’s expression was one of rising irritation. “What question is that?”
    “If he is not the man he once was, why do you follow him?”
    Ankh watched the muties splashing in