"The
terrain's flat," Tricia told him, "I'll tell you if the
radar spots anything ahead."
The
pickup had a radar!? Then George recalled that the pickup had a flat
circular object mounted on the roll bar above the right rear
passenger seat.
"Squirt,
change your heading." Tricia then gave a new direction. "There's
a canyon up ahead."
George
gently turned right until the compass on his HMD reported that he had
the right heading.
"Okay,
you can slow down," Tricia said, "Looks like the storm is
dying."
George
breathed a sigh of relief. Not that he
was in any real danger. The dust in the air was too thick for him to
see anything of the storm. If there was even one.
"Watch
it, there's something ahead!" Tricia suddenly called out.
Immediately,
George took his foot off the accelerator. When a small figure
appeared out of the dust directly in front of him, he instinctively
hit the brakes and turned. He screeched to a stop beside the figure.
When he
looked up, out his side of the vehicle, he saw that it was a little
child wearing a clean orange jumpsuit with blond hair that reached
her neck.
"Hello,"
the girl greeted mildly, "Nice stop."
George
looked about. The dusty air made it hard to see far but it appeared
that there was no one else. "Um, are you alone here?"
"Yes,"
the girl replied.
George
smiled, forgetting that he was wearing a mask. "I'm George. Who
are you?"
"I'm
Raemi."
"Um,
are you lost? Could we take you somewhere?"
The girl
smiled but shook her head. "There's no need. Besides, your
friend is frantically gesturing not to."
George
glanced at Tricia, who was indeed shaking a 'no' with her hand.
"Just
being careful out here," Tricia said aloud to Raemi, "Hope
you don't take offense."
Raemi
shook her head again. "None taken."
Raemi
raised a hand and waved. "Goodbye."
"Let's
go," Tricia urged George quietly.
George
carefully shifted into first gear. Then he drove away from the child.
Once
they had traveled a short distance, Tricia said, "Squirt, you
should be careful of people out here." She gave him a new
heading to drive.
"But
she looked so young and innocent," George argued as he turned
the pickup, "She's just a child."
"That's
the point," Tricia stressed, "How can a child survive out
here in the wastes? How did she get there in the first place?"
Those
were good points.
"Also,
she didn't seem afraid or troubled about being out here," Tricia
added, "And did you notice that she wasn't wearing a breathing
mask?"
That had
George really thinking. The girl had no form of protection against
the environment - not from the heat, the dusty air or the dry wind.
Even Iona had kept an armored cloak with her. Had that child really
been there? Could she have been a holographic projection or some
other illusion?
"Things
in the wastes aren't always what they seem," Tricia told him,
"Take Iona for example. She may look cute and harmless but you
know how dangerous she can be."
George
had to agree.
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