Shades

'Government people like that,' Valenti said, 'never really give up. They just go away for a while. Till they find a new angle to use. Then they start all over again, digging and prying and pulling till something busts free.'

'That's kind of downbeat, don't you think?' Maria commented from the backseat.

Valenti sighed. 'Maybe it's the way things have been going on, or maybe it's just me. Kyle's been trying to tell me that I'm carrying around too much negative energy these days.'

Max gazed at the front windshield. The instrument illumination created a reflection in the glass. He stared at Liz's image as she looked through one of the side windows.

'Maybe it would be better if a government agency or the military handled this,' Maria suggested. 'We could tip them off.'

'No,' Valenti said. 'You've seen the government at work. Whatever these… travelers… are, a federal agency's first impulse is going to be to learn how to control them. To see if they can use the travelers. I don't know whether to be more concerned about them being able to control these things or not being able to control them.'

'He's right,' Max said. 'We'll do this ourselves.' If we can. If Isabel and River Dog can come up with enough information for us to act on.

Just knowing the location of the travelers wasn't going to be enough. That might only be enough to get them killed.

On owl's wings again, Isabel glided over the desert landscape. She had an owl's eyesight as well, and her vision turned the night into a confluence of light and dark that she could see through as easily as if it were bright as day.

She rode the dying thermals instinctively now, surprised at how quickly she learned the basics of winged flight. Of course, this was a dreamwalk. Pretty much anything she imagined in a dreamwalk was possible. Kyle had found that out when they'd experimented with a Playboy Playmate from an issue of the magazine. However Kyle hadn't found out as much as he'd wanted to about wish fulfillment.

Isabel's keen eyesight picked out River Dog sitting atop a ridge near where his physical body lay in a coma. Yet, he was miles away from the place where the travelers thought they had him trapped. If she had time to think too much about the situation, Isabel knew she could get confused.

On the ridge below, River Dog raised his hand in salutation.

Dropping a wing, Isabel lost altitude, stopping short of an actual plummet. The approach she had to take to reach River Dog was different from the one she'd used in the other dreamwalks she'd undertaken. Usually in those, all she'd had to do was link her mind with the person's she sought. But to get to River Dog, she'd had to journey.

Almost on top of River Dog, Isabel stretched out a wing to his outstretched right hand. Her feathers brushed his hand, but by the time her feet touched the ground, her feathers were fingers. He helped her step down from the air.

'Thank you,' Isabel said.

River Dog inclined his head. 'You have returned.'

'Yes.'

'The way was not difficult?'

'No. I had to look for you, though. That's not something I usually have to do.'

River Dog let out a long breath, and the chill filling the desert night turned his breath misty gray. 'You have brought the others?'

'They're on their way,' Isabel assured him. 'We're on our way.'

'You told them the danger was grave?'

'Yes.'

'Many would not take on such a dangerous undertaking.'

'We didn't feel we had a choice,' Isabel said. 'I think you felt the same way. That was why you came up into the mountains looking for the travelers.'

'Perhaps,' River Dog agreed.

'We don't have much time,' Isabel said. 'What have you found out?' During their last conversation, River Dog had let her know that the part of him held by the travelers was learning things from the travelers that they weren't aware of. And, in turn, when his other self knew about the travelers, the part of him that he kept involved in the vision quest knew about them as well. However his conversation with Isabel was kept separate from the part of him that the travelers kept captive.

'The travelers came here a long time ago,' River Dog. 'In the before time, when even the Chinese had not begun marking the days. The travelers were on their way back from a battle that spanned incredible distances across space when their ship failed. Until that failure, the travelers were able to jump from star to star.'

Isabel committed the story to memory, knowing she would have to tell Max and the others.

'The travelers were supposed to hold their position,' River Dog went on, 'until help arrived and the ship could be repaired or abandoned. Whichever became necessary. They were not allowed to remain there because their enemy, a ferocious band of warriors, didn't allow them to. They fled, making a final jump with their faulty star engine. When they reappeared in what they considered normal space, their ship was crippled worse than before. First they were trapped by the pull of the moon, then as they came around the moon, the earth caught them and pulled them in. They slammed into the desert here, arriving as a flaming comet. Gradually the sands of the desert pulled the wreckage down into the earth where I showed you.'

'How are you talking to them?' Isabel asked, amazed at the wealth of information that the old man had accumulated.

'By the same means they are talking to me,' River Dog answered. 'It is all part of the vision quest. Perhaps the Mesaliko who first encountered the travelers learned it from them. Or perhaps the Mesaliko taught the vision quest to the travelers.'

'How many travelers are there?' Isabel asked.

River Dog shook his head. 'I don't know. I have asked them about this, but the answer is confusing. I know there are many, but they say there is only one. The drones are questioning me at the moment.'

'The drones?' Isabel asked. 'The little metal bugs? Like the one the corpse in Leroy Wilkins's basement had in the bag around his neck?'

'Yes,' River Dog replied. 'There are thousands of them. Like ants in an anthill. I've seen them. But since the four travelers came for me in the cave, I haven't seen any more of them. They are content to let the drones deal with me and the problems I present.'

'You never said how they found you.'

River Dog hesitated for a moment. 'I think it was the vision quest. And once they found me, they didn't want to let me go. They still don't.'

Without warning River Dog's image flickered into and out of existence in rapid syncopation. Concern darkened his features as he turned away from Isabel. 'You need to go,' he whispered hoarsely, and his voice carried scratchy white noise. 'They have found you, Isabel. The drones have found you. If they are able, they will destroy you and your friends.'

'I'll be back,' Isabel promised. 'We're on our way.' Then she let herself be pulled from the dreamwalk and back into her body.

In the dark reflection against the windshield, Max saw Isabel stir and come awake. She pushed herself forward, staring down the highway.

'They're coming,' she said.

'Who?' Valenti snapped.

'The drones,' Isabel answered.

'What drones?' Valenti asked.

'The insect-things,' Isabel said.

'Like the spider-thing I saw in the hospital,' Kyle said.

'And like I saw when I dreamwalked Leroy Wilkins,' Isabel said.

Max peered at the road, wondering if he'd even be able to see the small creatures. 'What are the drones?'

'Tiny robots,' Isabel replied. 'The travelers have been using them to spy on the Mesaliko and Roswell.'

'Spy gear,' Michael said.