Annara placed a hand on her shoulder before she could return to her babysitting duties. "Stop. I'll watch the brats. You need to be with Hernando."
"I'm sure Hernando is in one of the transports below. He'll be here soon enough." She plastered a smile on her face. "Come on, let's relax for a bit. This is one big picnic from the look of it. Glad to see folks brought large shawls and blankets for sun blocks. It gives us places to sit on the ground comfortably."
They strolled back into the thick of things and sat down with the parents of Olivia's new little friends. She shared some of their packed lunch and sipped cool water from a wineskin sort of container. Time passed slower than a wet week. The land transport passengers arrived at the foot of the hills and made their way to the top of the mesa.
"That's some climb," Reyna, one of the security personnel, announced as the last of the group made it up the trail. "It gives me a new appreciation for the rock jumpers."
The broad-shouldered woman spotted Annara and Olivia and sat down beside them. Quadsang or Overseer? Olivia wasn't certain of Reyna's heritage, but the angular features and flash of fangs said she was a native of BloodDark. "All present and accounted for," Reyna said, smiling.
"Except for those who stayed behind in the command center, right?" Olivia tried hard not to mention Hernando's name when it became apparent he wasn't with this last group. Annara looked askance at her friend, but said nothing.
"A handful stayed behind. I suppose they'll go back with the high priestesses in their vehicle, although I never saw how the two of them traveled." Reyna furrowed her pale brow. "Must have been by land transport, right? They weren't on the airships?"
"We assumed everyone left behind would take the sixth transport back," Annara said. "We only saw five approaching."
Reyna nodded. "The sixth wouldn't start. Once those nanobots got well up inside the works... Well, it's broken forever. Not even the Earthers could fix it. We had to divide those passengers up and squeeze them inside the remaining five functional vehicles. It's one reason why we traveled so slowly. We were overweight and sunk in the sand in places. The road coming out from Penumbra City was much more solid and compacted."
Olivia felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. Hernando had stayed behind with Caveman, Valori and the others. How would they get out of there if they couldn't stop the homicidal nanobots? How would they prevent Colonel North and his troops from taking over the command center again and holding them prisoner? Most of those left behind were eggheads and technicians—not battle-hardened fighters like herself and Annara.
Olivia jumped to her feet. "I need to go back."
Annara flashed her a quizzical look but stood. "You hear something from Hernando?"
"They need us." Olivia turned to Reyna. "Which one of the land transports is the fastest?"
Reyna pursed her pale lips and furrowed her brow. "I'd say number three is the fastest. It's the newest in the fleet."
"All right, we'll take it. We'll bring it back. If not, there's plenty of space in the airships to take the people who traveled by road."
Olivia jogged to the trailhead and started her descent. She hated how the path wound its way like a snake to the valley floor, no wider than her foot in places. She glanced back and noticed Annara wasn't right behind her. Olivia realized Annara was acting responsibly. She wouldn't leave without first telling the other security personnel where they were going.
"Hey, wait up. Do you know how to drive one of those things?" Annara shouted, pointing to the land transports below.
Olivia paused to give her friend time to catch up. "If it's anything like a car, I can drive it. It's handling the treads which gives me some concern. At least we don't have to worry about a flat tire."
"Almost there... Got ya." Annara exhaled a long-held breath once she reached Olivia's position. "Treads are better on rough terrain."
"I suppose so. We won't be overweight, so we shouldn't sink in the sand." She looked down at her feet and away from the drop below. "Come on. Let's hurry."
It felt like an eternity, but at last they made it to the vehicles. Olivia frowned when she viewed the complicated dashboard and hand controls in transport number three. "Why did I expect this thing to work exactly like an automobile? It's more like an alien yellow school bus."
Annara entered and closed the vehicle's door behind her, locking it with a crossbar-styled bolt. "You Earthers always expect things to look and work the way you make them. Different world, different ways of looking at things. It's similar, though?"
"Close enough. Here goes nothing." Olivia pressed what she thought was the start button and waited for the engine to rev up. "Weird."
"Why are you waiting?" Annara asked. "It runs on sunlight. The steam heats up quickly and propels it along. It's waiting for you to tell it to go forward."
"Oh, right. Electric cars are silent and don't vibrate too much, do they?" She moved what she thought was the gear lever into drive and put her foot on the solitary pedal. "Hmm, I found the brake." She lifted her foot and the vehicle inched ahead. "Convenient. Now, if this steering wheel wasn't bow-tie shaped I might figure out how to turn this thing around..."
After several false stops and starts, Olivia managed to pull the transport from its parking space beside the other vehicles and turn it around to head to the site. Just as she felt she was getting the hang of it, the vehicle fishtailed as she maneuvered it through loose soil. Annara slid across the bench seat behind the driver's stool and slammed into the semi-opaque sidewall.
"Watch it!" Annara shouted. "You could flip this thing over."
"Sorry." Olivia bit her
