THIS ONE was different.

"Smallest redoubt I think we've come across," J.B. commented. "Must've been built just as cover for the gateway."

It had taken them only a half hour to explore the whole place. The main control section, which would house the comp nukes, was sealed off behind a coded sec door that they couldn't open. But a schematic plan of the whole complex showed how relatively small the place was.

Ryan looked at one of the maps. "Just the mat-trans at the bottom of the elevator and the admin and living quarters up here. Not more than seventy or eighty men and women here. Probably less than that."

"If I may correct your hypothesis, my dear Cawdor, I would suggest that the greater likelihood was for there to be living quarters outside the redoubt. The dormitory we saw and the eating facility would hardly have served that many personnel. Probably just those actually involved on the six- or eight-hour work shift here."

J.B. nodded at Doc's words. "Could be right. When we get outside we can see. But look at what we already got here."

There were three dormitories, each with ten single beds; a dining room and kitchen; bathroom facilities, with hot and cold running water, and no sign of any sort of intrusive insect life; small armory, which was the only part of the redoubt that had been stripped clean; a larder with dried and frozen food supplies; a small number of separate study-bedrooms, and, to Dean's stunned amazement and delight, a room that held about a dozen sophisticated arcade-quality video games.

Ryan had to come real close to losing his temper with his son to stop the boy going straight there.

"No."

"Dad?"

"No!"

"Come on, Dad!"

"First things first, Dean. We make sure the perimeter's safe. Then all of us get a bath. You and me specially."

"I don't need a wash. I got wet during that second jump in Maine."

Doc patted Dean on the top of his curly head. "Getting wet in what smells like the contents of an abandoned septic tank isn't quite the same as having a good wash, my young prince among cherubim and seraphim."

"Then can I play the"

"Then we eat."

"After that?" Dean's voice cracked in his desperation. "Please Dad!"

"Then I reckon it'll be about time for everyone to catch some shut-eye. Specially you and me, Dean."

The desolate look on his son's face made him smile.

"Give him a break, lover," Krysty urged.

"All right."

"Oh, thanks, Dad!"

Ryan lifted a hand. "But we do everything in the right order. Understand? And you do need some double-

serious sleep. So, you stop playing when I tell you."

"I'd like to have a good look around this place, Ryan," J.B. said. "Quick glance at some of those small rooms turned up stuff left behind when they pulled out." "Tomorrow morning?" Ryan suggested. "Rest of you can look tonight, if you want. Those jumps have really taken me apart and put me back together crooked."

The Armorer shook his head. "No. I wouldn't mind an early bed for a change. How about you, Mildred?"

"Ready when you are, John. Can we use one of the private rooms?"

"Only got single beds," Jak said, his pale lips tugged back off his strong teeth in a feral grin.

"All we need," Mildred replied.

THERE WAS THE SMUDGED residue of old pieces of soap in the metal dishes of the individual shower units and, by working hard with them, Ryan managed to produce a slightly scummy lather. He rubbed at the stinking slime that had crusted in his hair, washing down over his face and chest.

He got some of the yellow coal-tar soap in his eye, and he was blinking, blind, when he felt a warm soapy hand slide between his buttocks from behind and grip him by the cock.

Ryan's mouth opened in surprise, and he swallowed a mouthful of hot water.

"Cleanliness is being next to God, was what Uncle Tyas McCann used to say to me, back in Harmony ville," Krysty said, pressing her naked body against him, her nipples peaking against his streaming scarred skin.

"But he didn't have this in mind, did he?"

Ryan kissed her, the water flowing over both their heads like a divine benediction from the past. Her

fingers still gripped his growing hardness, and he replaced the soap in the dish, putting both his hands to better use. Krysty threw her head back, allowing the water to wash the grime and dust from her long, sentient hair. It hung loose across her shoulders, like liquid fire.

"Good to be able to relax, lover," she said, "and good to have you and the boy back safely."

"Close call," he admitted. "Have to watch out for that sort of accident in future."

"You believe that all experience is good experience, Ryan? You do, don't you?"

He nodded, nuzzling his chin against her neck. "Yeah. Even bad experiences, because you learn from

them and that makes you a stronger and wiser and better person."

"I guess so. Hey, you need a shave. There's razors in sealed packs in the main part of the bathroom."

His hand was between her parted thighs, the middle finger probing into her moist depths, moving slowly

in and out, making her moan in delight.

"Never done it in a shower before," she whispered in his ear, barely audible above the roaring hiss of the steaming water. "New experience. And Bit harder, and use your thumb, as well. That's it." Her fingers were tight, sliding back and forth over his swollen length, bringing him toward the brink faster than he'd have believed possible.

"Slower or"

"Hold me," she said. "Under the back of my thighs, and brace yourself against the wall of the shower."

Her green eyes were smiling into his face, her fiery hair seeming almost to caress his skin, as he lifted her

off the ground. Krysty spread herself wider, one arm around his neck, the other reaching down to guide him into her, then gently lowering, so that he impaled her.

"Oh, Gaia!" he moaned. "That's something else."

She nipped at the side of his throat with her teeth, very gently. "Fireblast!" she whispered, mocking him. "Now we both start to move like this"

EVERYONE IN THE GROUP took showers or baths, taking advantage of the rare chance to relish endless, temperature-controlled water, as well as the opportunity to feel safe while doing it.

Afterward, they all met in the dining area, Jak, Abe and Doc browsing through the packed shelves of the larder.

"Think it's safe, Mildred?" Trader asked.

"Should be" she looked at the display and the expiry dates on some of the packaging "although it's mostly a hundred years or so past its time."

DEAN FELL ASLEEP, facedown over his third helping of processed minced pork, with a mixed pepper sauce and frozen hash browns.

"Have to play those vid games tomorrow," Ryan said, picking the boy up and carrying him to the dormitory, where Krysty helped tuck him into one of the beds.

"Anyone want microwaved chocolate pie?" Jak asked.

"Yeah, me," Abe replied, "Still a few hollows stopping my belly and backbone from touching."

"Mildred?" the albino queried.

"Hell, why not? Shame it's not banana royale, with cream and a triple scoop and some pineapple chunks.

Now that was something like a dessert! But this'll do."

RYAN AND KRYSTY TOOK one of the small study rooms, while Mildred and J.B. shut themselves into another. Everyone else was content to spend the night in the dormitory, along with the sleeping boy.

There was a small desk, its drawers emptied, in one corner of the room, the single bed along the wall opposite the door.

"Was it J.B. who said that there was still some junk in one or two of the other rooms?" Ryan asked, as he sat down to pull off his steel-tipped combat boots. "Fireblast, but I need this rest!"

"Meal was good." Krysty struggled to suppress a belch. "The sauce wasn't bad at all. That what they used to call convenience foods, I guess."

Not getting any response, she glanced behind her, seeing that Ryan, half-undressed, was lying flat on his back, mouth open, snoring slightly.

Chapter Seven.

Ryan yawned and opened his eye, awakened by Krysty getting up from the narrow bed and switching on the overhead light. She was standing by the tiny washbasin in the corner of the room, splashing cold water in her face.

"What time is" He answered his own question by checking his chron. "Seven o'clock. It's only seven. Why're we getting up this early?"

"We aren't. I am. You're the one made a triple jump, lover. Not me. I slept all right."

"I was out like a dead 'dillo."

She smiled. "I noticed. Tried to get some life out of you a couple of times. I reckon I'd have had a more positive response from a dead armadillo."

"Sorry. Make it up to you tonight."

"Depending on where we are, of course. Lie down and go back to sleep." She pulled on her white shirt, covering her superb breasts, which disappointed Ryan, as he was just beginning to discover that he wasn't quite as tired as he'd thought. "I'll go brew up some coffee and see if there's anything for breakfast that isn't too disgusting."

He held out his hand and she went to clasp it, bringing it to her lips. She took his index finger into her mouth and sucked it hard, running her tongue up and down it, and glanced down at the sudden movement beneath the layer of crumpled bedclothes across Ryan's loins.

"Mebbe we won't have to wait until tonight, after all," she said with a grin.