I hadn’t interacted with it much. I hadn’t seen the limits of its intelligence or lack thereof. This one minute of flying might have even been the longest period I’d properly used my strength in two years.

I sighted the others, sitting on the rocks and talking. I dropped low, and I set the box down on the ground. Even with the care I was taking, it made a noise on landing.

“Wow,” Tristan said. “How heavy is that thing?”

“No idea,” I said. “If I had to guess, maybe three hundred and fifty pounds?”

“I can see why she has a hard time moving those things around.”

“She described them as being bigger,” Chris said. “Others, I think. I think they start at that size and get larger.”

“Did her dad leave?” Sveta asked.

“Not yet,” I said. “They’re figuring out logistics. He’s going to go pick up Rain at the station. Be right back.”

I flew over to where Kenzie and her dad were. Kenzie’s dad was in the driver’s seat, and Kenzie was closing the rear doors. A series of bags and boxes were unloaded, all packed together.

As I landed, her dad pulled away. Kenzie raised a hand in a wave.

I was aware of the lack of a wave in response. From the way she lowered her hand and glanced at me, Kenzie was too.

“Want to fly over?” I asked.

Her eyes lit up with excitement as she nodded.

There were very few people in the world who didn’t like flying.

It was, in a way, almost as much of a pain to bring Kenzie, two cases and two boxes without my strength active, as it had been to move the one cube. I ended up lifting her by the straps at the back of her overalls, my hand also wrapped around the strap of one bag, while Kenzie held other things.

We arrived at the hill with the rocks. There was light overgrowth, a fairly loose distribution of trees for the fact that it was untamed wilderness, and thick grass. A surveying team had passed through at one point, and they had disturbed earth here and there, felled a few trees, and spray painted the face of one of the larger rocks before leaving.

A bit of a shame, but I could understand the need for a quick and easy label. No minerals or stone of any particular value here.

Chris, wearing his headphones again, was wearing what looked like the same shorts as he had worn at the meeting, and a different t-shirt. He was examining the box, while keeping at least two feet away from it at all times. He had a bag with him, a travelers’ backpack that was packed full, but he’d put it down.

“You don’t have to keep your distance,” Kenzie said. “It’s not dangerous.”