They left immediately, even though it was barely midday. Ktheg!lik told Petra that she would return in two or three days. She wasn't sure what effect if any that would have on the golem, since they would still be in radio contact, but she thought it wise to inform it of their plans.

  It was going to be a long, tedious journey, but at least they could keep learning from Petra during it. Ktheg!lik had neglected to bring an air-picture board, but the golem was willing and able to alter the perspective on her flat tablet in a wide variety of ways. They continued with language lessons, but focused far more on learning Galactic than on teaching Petra Kthufu. Fortunately, the fauk!as' goal and Petra's goal were both satisfied in the same way.

  Sadly, there didn't seem to be much point in learning Eengrizz any longer. Ktheg!lik continued to review what she had already learned, though. It felt respectful of Nik!eh to keep what she knew of his language. After all, some day, perhaps generations from now, Petra will build us a ship to sail the stars—and we know of one inhabitable planet already.

  The inside of the omnibus got uncomfortably warm despite the sun catchers on the roof. This is going to be awful when full of people. Much better to leave the mine at night, as we planned.

  The ride was rough, which was to be expected; Odaual claimed that it would drive more smoothly with gentler bumps once it was fully loaded. Ktheg!lik didn't understand why, but she took his word for it; she wasn't an engineer.

  They reached a reasonable road fairly quickly, and started making good time. The road wound between the foothills, and there were frequent sharp turns. Then they left the foothills behind and started crossing the Filifa Plains. Ktheg!lik was glad that there were no windows. It would be painful to see what used to be rich farmland now turned to dust, with nothing alive in sight.

  Kozegs dragged by, yet felt like eye-blinks once past. The terrible sun set, and the omnibus began to cool rapidly. For a while, she felt relief.

  Then, the omnibus slid off the road sideways. Odaual yelped and got the vehicle back under control, reducing speed somewhat. Fortunately, the land was fairly flat and returning to the road took only a moment.

  “What happened?”

  “Ice! The nightly dew wet everything down, and then froze into black ice on this stretch instead of being lumpy frost like in most places. I'm afraid we can't go as quickly as we hoped, unless we do it by day.”

  “It looks like we have to, for at least part of the trip,” Ktheg!lik realized. “It will take longer than a night to cross this distance, now.” She sighed. “Do what you can. Slower is better than getting into a wreck. Just ask the poor hoonan.”

  * *

  It wasn't all that long before sunrise when the omnibus finally pulled up as close as it could get to the mine entrance. As usual, some people were standing around, taking in fresh air while they could. Nearly everyone gathered around the vehicle to inspect it, inside and out.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Ktheg!lik was pleased to see that the group had done a fair job of moving nearly all the food supplies close to the entrance. We can pack up immediately, since the omnibus will block the sunlight for at least an hour. I'd worry about leaving the food in the heat all day, but we're going to have to keep it in the higher temperatures for hours no matter what we do. We might as well suffer through the ride as soon as possible and get it over with.

  What she hadn't expected, but should have, was that Ful!goa and a few others didn't want to leave.

  The silver mine belonged to Ful!goa. He and his employee Kuala!a had managed to hide a large store of food in the mine after it stopped being worked, and before things got really bad out there. Kuala!a had been allowed to bring his family to live there. Ful!goa had no family himself, or at least none that he cared about.

  When Ktheg!lik and a group of other students from the local learning village hiked up the hill one night to use the radio tower, they had stayed out too late, and were in danger from the sunrise. So, when one of them spotted the mine entrance, they attempted to go in to wait out the day. Ful!goa had stopped them at first, but eventually relented, claiming generosity.

  Ktheg!lik had noticed, however, that he didn't change his tune until he realized that there were a number of healthy young females in the group. To be fair, he never forced any of the women, but the situation was precarious enough that Naf!ala decided to mate with Ful!goa regularly to keep him happy, or as happy as one could be while the world died. The other women were quietly grateful to her, and she said privately that he wasn't all that bad. Ktheg!lik wondered if that were true, or if Naf!ala only said it to keep the other women from feeling guilty.

  Now, though, Ful!goa apparently didn't like the idea of not being in charge. He was comfortable in a position of power, being a benefactor. So, he had decided that the aliens were not to be trusted, and anyone who went over to Petra's underground complex was a fool. He tried to convince others to stay, but not very hard; it was clear that he didn't want as many people as had been crowded in there.

  Ktheg!lik was fine with leaving him at the mine; with the maker from Petra, he would have fresh foods, so long as the feedstock ingots kept coming. One source of bitterness was that Ful!goa didn't want to part with any of his food stores, so when Ktheg!lik offered to leave him all the stores but to take the maker away with the ones leaving, he grudgingly gave them a small portion of his supplies.

  The other problem was when Naf!ala announced that she was leaving. Ful!goa was very upset. The situation grew tense for a while, but eventually was resolved with some harsh words but no violence.

  In the end, twenty fuak!a climbed into the omnibus, carrying Kek!ooa on a stretcher Petra had made for them before they left for the mine. They had even brought a few feedstock ingots to leave with Ful!goa, which he claimed rather ungratefully as if they were his rightful due. With careful use of the sunshield, it was possible to load everyone and their meager possessions by midday.

  It made Ktheg!lik nervous that the energy wells were less than half full as they set out, but reminded herself that the sun catchers on the roof would be working to refill them as they traveled.

  The drive was brutal for the first four hours, as the omnibus resembled an oven more than they would have liked. Adding the cooling rods would have added over a day to the travel time, as they would have drained the wells faster. Still, Ktheg!lik wondered whether they had made the right choice in hurrying without them.

  The heat stayed trapped inside the omnibus for an hour after sunset, gradually cooling off to become more comfortable. Then, of course, the chill of the night began to make itself felt. Kek after kek they traveled, Odaual being very careful when they hit the places that had been icy the night before. People who had been fanning themselves in the heat earlier, now were huddling together for warmth as the kozegs passed.

  “Ktheg!lik, could you come up here for a zeg?” Odaual called.

  She came over to him at once. “What is it?”

  Odaual gave a long sigh, then whispered to her, “We're not going to make it.”