In the light of the rising sun, Eva could see that the purring Goldfish looked better than it had the day before. It now floated more than a meter above the sand. The tail fins had been reattached in their proper positions, and even the audio player was singing softly.

“That’s amazing!” Eva scrambled down to join Muthr.

Otto came up and nuzzled Eva’s left hand for a scratch behind the ear.

“Hiya, Otto. Been watching over Muthr while she fixes this thing?”

The water bear hooted a happy reply.

“I had to use one of your Pow-R-drinks to clean and flush the fuel lines, but it should really enhance its overall performance.” Muthr handed a SustiBar to Eva. “After breakfast, and after we tend to your hand, I can teach you how to drive it, if you want.”

“Whoa, really?” Eva forgot all about her food, and her injury, and crawled into the driver’s seat. A series of buttons and a small control yoke, for steering, greeted her. Brightly projected on the clear polished windshield was a display of numbers and indicators, which included hover height, speed, and wind direction. “This is going to be awesome!” Eva said, turning the yoke back and forth. She paused. “But don’t you think I’ll get sick again?”

“I checked about your nausea with the Omnipod.” Muthr held up the device. “Apparently kinetosis, motion sickness, may be prevented if you are driving. Plus, navigation of a vehicle is always a good skill to acquire.”

“Well, then, let’s get moving!” Rovender tossed his jingling rucksack down to the soft sand next to the hovercraft. He followed, hopping down to join Eva, and handed the beamguide to her. “Before we set out, let us check our bearings so that we can confirm we are heading in the right direction.” Rovender took hold of Eva’s hand and angled one side of the square-cut crystal so that the beams of morning sunlight entered it directly.

With the cube acting as a prism, light projected out, spreading like a flat hologram in all directions. Eva immediately realized that what she was viewing was a detailed virtual relief map of Orbona’s surface terrain. She recognized the miniature city of Solas, nestled next to Lake Concors. Eva even saw the tiny pillars of Lacus, on the opposite shore, and the Wandering Forest beyond it.

Rovender pointed to a sparkling dot on the map. “This is our current location, here . . . ,” he said, then walked through the hologram and pointed to a cluster of knobby spires rising from a depression in the ground. “And here is where, I believe, we want to go.”

“This is quite impressive, Mr. Kitt.” Muthr’s head poked up through the projected holographic landscape like a great desert sphinx. “However, what are those blackened areas?”