Hutch had always considered herself a reasonably decent swimmer, but Sara and Arin left her behind and were floating beside the lander when she arrived.

They’d have to get the vehicle upright before they could try hauling it out. It was lying on its left side. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have taken on any water. And the left wing had prevented the lander from rolling completely over. Sara handed the cable over and Hutch tied it to the base of the sensor atop the cabin. Then she tugged on it, signaling Ken to start.

All three positioned themselves along the edge of the roof on the down side and tried to lift it as the cable tightened. It was slow going, and Hutch didn’t believe she was adding much to the effort, but Arin and Sara clearly were. As it rose, she got under the wing, which allowed her to apply more pressure. They got the vehicle almost all the way up onto its landing skids. Then it hesitated and she thought it was going to roll back on them. But they came up with a desperate shove and it dropped down on its skids into an upright position.

She needed a minute, and the ocean collected her and started to carry her away. Sara came to her side and grabbed her arm. Was she okay?

Yes. Just hang on a second.

They waited. Finally, she released the cable from the sensor base, looped it around the port wing, and knotted it. Arin went back up to the yacht and returned with the second cable, which she secured to the starboard wing. Then she signaled Sara and Arin that they were done.

They returned to the yacht. “Everything okay?” asked Ken.

“It should be all right.”

Arin took over the controls and guided the vehicle slowly toward shore, while Hutch and Ken fed more cable into the water from the afterdeck. He slowed down as he got in close and finally stopped as they touched bottom. Sara and Hutch, each holding one of the coils, climbed down into the water and walked toward the beach.

Korsek had appeared. He was talking with the drivers while he watched Sara and Hutch come through the surf. Then he sent the drivers back to their trucks. Kwylla joined him and they walked across the beach, waving at the few sunbathers until they began moving back out of the way. The trucks started their engines and started slowly toward the water. When they got close, they did U-turns and stopped alongside each other, facing inland.

Hutch and Sara, meantime, had come ashore. The drivers met them, took the cables, and tied one to the rear of each truck. Then Korsek took up a position in front of the vehicles, waved off a couple of young Volarians who’d gotten too close, and signaled the drivers to start.