Farther down the road, a sturdy dune climber with giant blue tires and a
silver tarpaulin pulled tightly over its contents waits, watched over by Munk. A
few of the locals have gathered there too, waving their iridescent scarves at the unusual androne.
'Come on, Mei,' Shau Bandar calls impatiently from the sunny apron of the garage. He has the gold-foil hood of his desert jacket pulled up and is wearing wraparound reflectants across his eyes. 'Raza says everything's ready. We're leaping into the wilds!'
In the center of the garage, a topo map has been projected on the concrete floor. Rey and an angular woman in desert togs and clear statskin cowl wade through the holoform, discussing the journey ahead. A burly fellow with no face paint sits on a chrome faldstool under the chain loops of an engine hoist, arms crossed, his blond face closed around a melancholy ease, as if he's seen all this before and is resigned to its dire outcome.
'Thank you for joining us,' the woman facetiously greets Mei. The long, carved eyelines in her shrewd face seem indifferent, but there's no ignoring the haughtiness of her aloof stare. 'I am Grielle Aspect.'
Mei shows her palms. 'And I'm-'
'Mei, dear, the androne and the nose from Softcopy have told me all about you. Have you met Buddy yet, the old one your androne brought with him from the
city?'
Mei and Buddy perfunctorily show their palms. 'What does that mean-old one?' she asks.
Grielle wags a silver-nailed finger at her and points to where Shau paces, recording them with the blue lens in his shoulder harness. 'Stand over there, dear. You're in time to hear the details Rey and I have worked out.'
Mei walks through the ruddy ghost image of the martian landscape and sits on the bench.
'As I am the founding sponsor and major contributor to this trek,' Grielle says, speaking to Shau's recorder, 'I have the privilege of directing our passage to Solis. In all practical considerations, I defer, of course, to our pilot, Morphe Raza. Among the numerous tractor paths that diverge from here and converge on Solis, the pilot accepts my choice of Nebraska Trace. I've chosen that path because it passes through the ruins of Sarna Neve, where the Acts of Light first became dogma.'
Mei pipes up, 'But is Nebraska Trace the safest and most direct route to Solis? Munk and I want to get Mr. Charlie to where he can become a whole man again as quickly as possible.'
'That's entirely irrelevant,' Grielle sniffs and adjusts the olfact setting under her cowl to maximum calm. 'You're here to listen, Mei dear. I have already explained, I am the director.'
'Nebraska Trace adds three days to our crossing,' Rey interjects, kneeling in the topo map, bent over with his flat nose almost touching the lucid craterland. 'But the weather looks very good. And I see no major shreek migrations in that area.'
'What about the psyonic core units?' Shau asks. 'Are you still concerned they'll attract marauders?'
'They might,' Grielie concedes with a wary nod. 'That's why the psyonics will be conveyed in a separate dune climber well away from the caravan, if there are marauders, we will have to defend ourselves, not machine parts. For that same reason, I have directed the androne Munk to travel apart from us.'
'That's not smart,' Mei objects. 'He's Mr. Charlie's best protection, and we'll all be a lot safer if we stay together. Where is Mr. Charlie? Munk isn't carrying him.'
'I installed him in the second rover,' Rey answers, 'where you and Softcopy will ride. I'll pilot all the vehicles from the lead rover. The dune climber will take the point. And the androne can scout ahead-'
'You installed Mr. Charlie?' Mei asks, standing up. 'You mean, he's awake?'
'I suggest you sit down, dear, and listen. These will be nycthemeral journeys, that is, each will be a day and a night long. We will stop at dawn to affirm the Acts of Light, as has been done since the first pilgrims ...' She stops talking as Mei walks out of the garage, then glares at Rey. 'Find another cosponsor. I don't want to travel with this rude jumper.'
'It'll take days,' Rey mumbles, crawling on his hands and knees with his face grazing the planet's blighted surface. 'And we won't find anyone with deeper pockets than Softcopy. Besides, the weather is clement now. Later in the
season-' He looks up with a dubious frown. 'The dust storms from the south make it tougher.'
'Don't go away miffed, Mei dear,' Grielle calls with mock concern.
The jumper ignores her and walks into a solar frenzy of hard radiant light bounding off the desert floor and sparkling sharply from the scarves of the crowd. She steers herself toward the glare of the second rover and slips among the onlookers without acknowledging their keen stares and friendly waves.
Clambering up the tread-guard, she pulls herself atop the runner and climbs the inset steps in the hull among the tinted viewdomes to the bridge. There, standing at the taifrail, she waves at Munk. The androne raises both arms and shifts the reflectance of his cowl to catch the morning sun in a wink of starfire.
'Come on in,' a muffled voice calls from below. 'The hatch is unlocked.'
Mei dilates the hatch at her feet and drops through the companionway into the forward cabin's aqua-lit interior. Pellucid daylight washed of glare filters through the blackglass dome and mingles with the watery glow from the console.
'Good morning, Mei,' a cheerful voice says.
'Mr. Charlie?' Mei calls. The bright cabin appears empty, until she sees the plasteel capsule bracketed by platinum clamps under the console.
'Grielle Aspect is hauling a couple tons of psyonic parts to Solis,' Munk's voice comes out of the dome speakers, 'and Rey used some of those components to hook up Mr. Charlie. We've been talking to each other over the rover's
comlink.'
