“No, I mean, we might not make it at all.” Odaual was keeping his voice very low and Ktheg!lik spread her ears to compensate and to help block the others from hearing.
“Why not? If the energy wells run dry we can wait for the sun catchers to refill them, right?”
“Yes, that's not the real problem, though. We're losing the engines.”
“What?”
Odaual nodded. “We lost the right rear engine a long way back, but we still had plenty of power so I wasn't too worried. But, we lost the right mid engine a short while ago, and I'm getting a bad feeling about the left rear one, from how this thing is handling. And this is on a level stretch. Once we get back into the Violet Mountains, I don't know how long the engines will hold out. Each time we lose one, it puts greater strain on the others.”
“Did you ask Petra?”
Odaual nodded. “She says she can't tell what's going on—I guess because our design is too primitive, or something.”
“Maybe we put the engines together wrong? What do you think, if we stopped, could you remove one of the broken motors and tell what's wrong with it?”
“Not quickly. Now, I wish we had thought to make spares.”
“We were rushing, and that has the usual drawback.”
“So, what do we do?” Odaual asked.
“Will going slower put less strain on the engines?”
“It should. I already reduced speed slightly after the second engine failed.”
“Then ease up a bit more. If we have to spend all of tomorrow in this thing, so be it. But we have to get as close as possible, even if we can't make it up the last hill. I'll talk to Petra, see if she can excavate an emergency shelter closer to us, somewhere we can wait out the day.”
“But we won't know where we need it to be until we break down.”
“Let me see what's possible.”
Ktheg!lik sat down in one corner with the alien radio in her lap. She wrapped her ears mostly around the radio camera, and mouthed, “Petra, can you read my lips?”
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“Yes,” Petra said aloud.
A moment later, Ktheg!lik closed her eyes, wondering at her foolishness. They didn't have to speak aloud at all. She pulled out her tablet and typed to Petra, requesting text-only responses.
< Petra, how much time, dig a shelter for twenty people? >
< I do not understand. >
< Time, dig underground space, twelve by twenty by twenty naza? >
< Eight kozegs. >
Ktheg!lik grimaced. Far too long to do any good.
< Petra, how many keks can your diggers go from you? >
< I don't understand. >
< What is the range of digger? >
< 0.8 keks. >
Ktheg!lik frowned. That can't be right. < Petra, how did the flying carriage go more than 0.8 keks? >
< Motors. >
Ktheg!lik sighed. Petra is very literal-minded.
< Petra, when flying carriage go more than 0.8 keks, how did you control it? >
< Radio. >
She sighed again, this time in disappointment. Well, we'll have to see how far we get and then look at our options.
* *
They passed the provincial boundary half a kozeg later, which meant they were three-fourths of the way to Petra's complex. It was a kozeg to sunrise, so there should have been enough time to finish the trip if they hadn't slowed down. They had managed not to lose another engine, so far.
Soon, they noticeably were headed uphill. Because she was listening for it, Ktheg!lik noticed the sound of the engines wavering a bit as they began the gradual climb. How many keks can we walk in a night? She wondered. How many can we walk uphill? With a stretcher?
She turned the problem over in her mind. We might need another transport. Too bad we... She stiffened, thinking.
< Petra, how full is the energy well on Nik!eh's carriage? >
< 50%. >
< Can the carriage still move, or is it broken? >
< I don't understand. >
< You say go, carriage go? Yes or no. >
< Yes. >
< Petra, make an engine for the omnibus. Then, put it in the carriage. >
Ktheg!lik heard the third engine fail just then. Three left. Come on, thing, just a little farther...
They waited, listening, as the zegs crept past. They reached a turn from a main road onto the mountain road that led close to Petra's base. Odaual took the turn at a crawl, and the engines whined, but settled back down once they were straightened out again. There are a lot of turns on this road, though, Ktheg!lik brooded.
The sun rose, and within zegs, the chill was starting to leave the interior of the omnibus. She wasn't sure whether she was imagining it, but it seemed to her as if the engines were sounding better. Did the cold harm the engines? Hamper them?
Everyone was beginning to stir as they felt the warmth seep into their bones. Before long, the heat was making people pull apart from each other once more.
“How much longer?” Geh!aoa asked. She was the youngest of the students in Ktheg!lik's group.
“I'm not sure,” Ktheg!lik told her honestly. “We're more than three-fourths of the way there, I can tell you that for certain.”
“So, a half kozeg in the heat or so? Will there be shade to get inside?”
“We'll see how long. We intend to park inside the hill, but even if we don't, the plan is to have shade so people can get off safely.” There, I didn't told any lies. I was just...diplomatic.
Come on, engines, just a little farther.