The rest of the night passes in silence. Some of the ranger stations send out encrypted messages in addition to bounties and reported raiders, but they’re impossible for me to crack. If Vince was right and they were stationed in Albuquerque, then we should already be too far away for them to find us.

  Eventually the sun rises, and with it Cassie and Ivy.

  “Ugh, I’m starving.” Cassie compins only a few moments after waking up.

  “Alright, give me one moment.” Vince turns the car towards a rge dune and parks atop it. “What are you in the mood for?”

  “More of Lucas’ stew.” She jokes. They ate all the leftovers st night. “I guess I can deal with potato soup though.”

  “I can do that.”

  Everyone gets out of the car to stretch their legs. Based on how everyone is acting it must feel pretty good to relieve a cramp.

  “Hey Corax!” Cassie comes jogging over. She’s surprisingly energetic for someone who just woke up. “Just how fast are you?”

  “Fast.” Corax says proudly.

  “How about a race then?” She grins, bouncing on the tip of her feet. What’s gotten into her today? I’ve never seen her like this. “From here, to that dune and back?”

  Corax hops from my shoulder to hers. Cassie flinches a little, but is back to normal once he nds.

  “Hell yeah!” Cassie crouches down into a runners start, and Corax fres his wings, ready for takeoff. “Three, two, one, go!”

  They both shoot off like a bolt of lightning. Both Corax’s wings and Cassie’s legs are pumping nearly faster than I can see. Corax takes an early lead, but Cassie is quickly closing the distance.

  How is she so quick in the sand? To keep up she must be going at least 30 miles an hour, possibly more. A closer look reveals the answer. With every step rge, ft ptes flip down from the sole of her feet, digging into the sand. She has perfect traction, even out here.

  I watch the race in amazement for a few seconds before turning to Vince. Him and Ivy are idly watching the race while chopping potatoes. They’re careful to make sure every single chunk ends up in the pot.

  “What’s wrong with Cassie?” My concern comes through clearly in my voice.

  Vince and Ivy both ugh.

  “She gets a little stir crazy on long rides.” Vince expins.

  “I’m just gd she’s not challenging me this time.” Ivy adds.

  “Oh, ok. Can I help?”

  “Sure Little Blue.” He passes me a potato and a knife. “Just try to chop them to about the size of a dice.”

  I’m lucky I can work on two things at once. I can give my full attention to both cutting the potatoes and watching the race.

  Cassie arrives at the dune first, with Corax close behind. It turns out Cassie’s ft ptes aren’t quite enough to stop her from slipping a bit from such a fast turnaround. It takes her almost a second to get back up to speed, and by that time Corax has taken the lead again.

  Cassie’s not about to let him win though. She tears down the side of the dune, sand flying behind her. It takes less than a minute for them to make it back to the car. Cassie is cleanly in the head, arriving a full second before Corax.

  Cassie isn’t even breathing heavily. She just sits down next to Vince like nothing even happened.

  “So how’s food going?” She asks.

  “It’s going.” Ivy says.

  I turn my focus to Corax instead of their conservation. He’s nded on my shoulder, but refuses to look at anyone.

  “Need bigger motor.” He mumbles, half to me and half to himself.

  “Are you pouting?”

  In response he lightly bites my ear. So that’s a yes.

  “We’ll get you something soon, alright?” I reach up and offer to pet him. He doesn’t react so I drop my hand. “I think I’m supposed to be getting an allowance for working for Silver. How about we use that to make you way faster?”

  He doesn’t respond, but I can tell the idea makes him feel a little better.

  I turn back to the soup. We’ve once again made enough for both breakfast and lunch. The chopped potatoes have been thrown into a pot, along with what I’m guessing is soy milk. I can’t think of any other way to get milk.

  “Why do you guys get such variety out here, but at the compound you only eat spaghetti and beans?” I ask nobody in particur.

  “We’re risking our lives, the least Silver can do is let us have a nice st meal.” Cassie answers.

  “I guess that makes sense.” I really wish I had all the same senses as any human. Being able to eat and be one of them would be so nice. I can detect moisture, which humans can’t, but I’d trade that in an instant.

  What would my life be like if I was just human? Easier, for sure. Actually no, I’d probably be dead in the b right now.

  Even in his upset state, Corax still has the mind to nibble on my ear, warning me not to follow that line of thinking any further.

  “You ok Little Blue?” Vince asks, noticing the bite.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Talking about it would only make things harder.

  “Alright. Well, suppose I should give everyone today’s pn. We’re taking an uncommon route, so things should be pretty quiet. We’ll reach the grand canyon right around sundown, and bunker down there for the night. Tomorrow we pull out the sor array, and make it to Vegas if safe. Any questions?”

  “What part of the canyon?” Cassie asks. There’s something in her voice I just can’t pce.

  “No idea, it’s been a long time since I was there. Wherever we can find a way in.”

  “Alright.” A lot of Cassie’s excitement and energy drains from her. If Ivy doesn’t think it’s best to mention it, I’m not going to either.

  “What’s Vegas like?” I ask, trying to change the topic away from whatever is making Cassie upset.

  “Well, that’s a complicated question. It’s a wless wastend for anyone without money, and it’s entirely designed to suck that money away from the rich, and towards the very rich. As long as not too much has changed, just stick close to me. I’ve walked those streets enough to stay safe.”

  “Ok, and what about the AI there? You said we’re allowed to exist? What about the war?”

  “The war didn’t hit everywhere as hard as Arc City. Apparently Vegas had a few paranoid ones that were prepared for something to happen. They cut off the city and kept it safe. Or, well, as safe as Vegas gets.”

  “Really?”

  “Mm-hmm. You can find a fair few AI working for the casinos, although I couldn’t tell you how many are there willingly.”

  I could probably shuffle a deck of cards into the exact order I wanted with just minor modifications to my hands. It’d be almost trivial to decide who’s going to win each hand. Why would people gamble there?

  Although if an AI could learn to read people as well as Ivy, they could let people hit big right before they’re getting ready to leave to keep them addicted. That’s horrifying. Do the humans know? Or are they too addicted to care?

  And what about the AI? Being pulled away from whatever life they once had to deal cards for the rest of eternity? Just being a tool with no breaks? I’m not going to let that happen to Corax, or myself.

  Although, is that better than the situation at Arc City? Is being forced to work forever better than the ever looming possibility of death for me and everyone I care about? I don’t know, and I don’t want to have to find out.

  “I think I hate Vegas.”

  “Yeah, I think that’s a reasonable thought. Hopefully we won’t be there for too long.” Vince portions the soup into the same jars they ate from yesterday. He hands one to everyone, and loads everything else into the car. “Alright, we should get moving.”

  “Oh, alright.” Ivy stretches as she stands up. “I was just about to ask those two for a race, but oh well.” Ivy nods to Corax and Cassie.

  “You could beat her.” I whisper to Corax. I think that helped cheer him up a tiny bit, although there’s no way to know.

  Vince climbs into the back with Corax and I, and Ivy ends up driving.

  “Wake me up if anything happens, Little Blue.” Vince asks.

  “I’ll get Corax to bite you if anything goes wrong.”

  “Well I sure hope nothing happens then.” Vince leans back and pces his hat over his face. “I’d like to keep my ear today.” His voice is heavily muffled.

  “Cassie, do you want me to stay on the radio? Or do you want it?” I ask.

  “I’ll take it.”

  I pass the radio to her, and pass the time reading and staring outside. I’m burning through this poetry book pretty quickly, I need to slow down as much as I can handle.

  A few hours ter Ivy whispers to us.

  “There’s a convoy in the distance.”

  I can see a faint cloud of dust in the distance. How she can make out any details, I have no idea.

  “Should I wake Vince?” Corax is already ready to fly to his shoulder.

  “Not yet, I recognize the logos. Cassie, switch seats with me.”

  Cassie hops out before the car even stops. Ivy’s not quite fast enough to do the same, and she puts the car in park before scooching over. Ivy switches the bullet in her rifle out for something else, and keeps it hidden just beneath the windowsill. She hits a button on the radio and begins to speak.

  “Riven Roads Shipping convoy, do you read?”

  She waits a moment for a response to come through her headset.

  “We’re about four miles out, taking a wide berth. Don’t panic if you see us.”

  She waits for another response.

  “Can do. Heard any trouble on the road to Vegas?”

  A third response.

  “Love to hear it. You’re going to run into a Ranger blockade at the Southern Pass. Double check your cargo. We’re out.”

  Despite the seeming cordial conversation, Ivy doesn’t rex.

  “Cassie, keep a three mile radius. Road should be clear to the Canyon.”

  “Got it.”

  It can’t be that hard to paste a fake logo onto a car and pretend to be a shipping company. There’s really no way to guarantee they’re not some sort of bandit trying to lure people in.

  Cassie turns the wheel a little to the west, and the convoy maintains its heading. Only when they’ve disappeared over the horizon for ten minutes does Ivy finally rex. She switches her gun over to her original ammo and sits back.

  “Sorry to worry you Blue.” She says back quietly. Somehow Vince has slept through the whole thing.

  “It’s ok. Was that really dangerous?”

  “Not really,” Ivy shrugs. “But if I guess wrong, we die.”

  “Right.” Too much caution is far safer than not enough.

  Vince wakes up on his own a few hours ter. He’s looking so much better than he did when he went to sleep. The deep bags still sit under his eyes, but they’ve receded a little bit.

  We don’t stop for lunch, I think Vince is anxious to get there before nightfall. I can’t imagine getting to the bottom of the Grand Canyon is easy in the dark.

  The rest of the ride is thankfully uneventful. About an hour before the sun sets, we reach the end of the world. Cassie parks the car and steps outside.

  The sand in front of us quickly slopes downwards before disappearing into open air. Almost a mile of barren, jagged cliffs separate us from the ground below. Almost ten miles away, a second set of cliffs mark the other edge.

  The ground is covered in the same rolling sandy hills as the rest of the desert. It’s as if the world opened up and swallowed everything it could, and at any moment this monster’s mouth could open fully and consume the entire world.

  “Welcome to the Grand Canyon.”

  JanePtinum