Eva, Muthr, and Rovender sat under the fragment of a great archway that shadowed them from the late-day sun. In their makeshift camp, they watched Otto tunnel down into the sand. His movements reminded Eva of the recorded holograms she had seen of burrowing badgers. The giant water bear dug into the earth with his front claws, and passed the dirt backward to his back legs, where he would kick it far from the giant hole.

A cascading flume of sand now sprinkled down on Eva from Otto’s most recent kick. She stood and shook the sand off her. “If it’s okay with you, Muthr, maybe Rovee and I can look around while Otto digs this tunnel,” she said. “Perhaps we can find more clues.”

“Only if Mr. Kitt agrees to accompany you, Eva,” Muthr replied as she watched Otto dig. “I can keep track of your whereabouts with the Omnipod.”

“Of course,” Rovender said as he grabbed his walking stick. “We shall not wander too far. Just let us know when you have found the source of the signal, Mother.”

“Very well. Be safe.” Muthr watched them as they left.

“I will,” Eva replied, waving to her. She paused for a moment and looked at Muthr before setting off. The robot stood, balanced on her single wheel outside in the middle of a desert, excavating ruins. Muthr had traveled so far from the hermetic world of the Sanctuary. They both had.

Eva and Rovender hiked out into the colossal remains, sweeping away the sand here, examining crumbling structures there.

“Maybe it was an ancient city of people who worshipped lions,” Eva said as they poked around. “Maybe lions were like mythical creatures to them, you know?”

“I do not even know what this lion is,” Rovender said, flipping over a flat stone with his foot.

“Oh, they were these wild, hairy, giant cats that were ferocious hunters.” Eva made her hands into claws for effect. “They were extinct on my planet, except for in zoos.”

“How curious,” Rovender said, “that such a wild beast would be contained.” He picked up a brick and sniffed it.

Eva was quiet for a moment as they walked along, and she thought about the trapped sand-sniper in the taxidermist’s lab. She thought about herself trapped, like a wild beast in a cell . . . trapped in Besteel’s camp . . . trapped in her own bedroom. She looked up at the afternoon sun hiding behind the Rings of Orbona and smiled, happy to be free.

“I hope Muthr and Otto can find a way underground,” she said.

Rovender knelt down and sifted through a pile of rubble. He added, “Yes, I can only imagine what may lie, untouched, in some ancient vaults. It will be—”

A large congregation of turnfins erupted from their roosts in a deafening clatter, flying in every direction at once.

“What is it?” Eva asked. She could feel her heart rate speed up before her tunic announced it.