Rieka bit her lip. “Yes.”
Coll shook his head. “Why?” he managed. It made no sense.
Rieka started to answer, then stopped. Her face moved as if she was trying to find the words. “You know the device Intrick has for talking to people a long way away?”
Coll remembered Intrick had used it to talk to Wolf when they were at the cache. He nodded. Rieka pointed to the tripod. “This is like that but for listening. I built it when we were still on Wolf. And I picked up a … a signal, like a message. I don’t understand it, but it’s powerful. It’s hundreds of klicks away, somewhere in the north. Whatever it is, I need to find it.”
“Why?”
Rieka shrugged. “Because I’m looking for something that makes sense.”
The sun was gentle on Coll’s face. He wondered how long he had been sick. He felt oddly hollow. He remembered being furious, but it seemed a lot of effort.
“Wolf will come back when she’s beaten Dragon,” he said.
Rieka chewed her lip. “Maybe.” Coll remembered the way Dragon had crashed into Wolf. When did it get so strong?
“I have to get back to her,” he said. “You have to help me.” He looked up. “Maybe there’s something in the cache?”
“The cache is locked again,” said Rieka. “I don’t have the tech to access it.”
Again, Coll wondered why Dragon hadn’t come back for the cache. Surely that had been its target? But nothing about the Construct made sense. It had defeated Raven. It had destroyed Raven. It was after Wolf…
Coll scrubbed his face. “Rieka, I have to get back to Wolf. She needs me. I have to. Please.”
Rieka sighed and put down her scanner. She seemed to think for a long time, and then nodded.
“I need to go north,” she said. “You want to go after Wolf. We both need transport. If you help me, I’ll go with you until you catch up with Wolf. OK?”
He blinked at her. “Really?”
“You have to do what I say, OK?”
Coll frowned but he had no choice. “OK. But where’s this transport?”
Rieka pointed across the plains. “There.”
Coll stared. “Wait,” he said slowly. “You don’t mean…”
Rieka gave a thin smile. “Yes,” she said. “I mean Raven.”
Coll stared across the plains at the ruined Construct. “We can’t use Raven,” he said. “Raven’s dead.”
“It’s just a machine,” said Rieka. “I can fix it.”
Coll wasn’t sure about that. Constructs weren’t just machines. Wolf wasn’t just a machine. She was alive in a way he couldn’t quite explain. She lived through her crew.
Her crew…
“Oh no,” he gasped. Raven’s crew! In horror he realised he hadn’t even thought about them, but they must still be there! How long had he been unconscious? How long had they been camped here with their fire burning, visible to the enemy? He spun and faced Rieka. “Their crew, Rieka!”
“It’s OK—” she said, but Coll grabbed her arm.
“It’s not, they’ll be coming for us! They’ll have seen us—”
“Coll—”
“Come on!”
“Let me go, idiot!” Rieka dragged herself free and folded her arms. “The crew’s gone.”
Coll stopped. “What? What do you mean?”
“I mean, gone,” she said. “Not there. Gone. I saw some people on the first night, but by the morning they’d left. All there’s been since is a few Ants scavenging for parts.”
Coll frowned. “But … that makes no sense. If Raven could be repaired, her crew would never leave. It would be like leaving Wolf!” He glanced at Rieka and blushed. “I mean … you know.”
Rieka nodded. “Maybe, but there’s no one there now. So what do you want to do? It’s this or wait for Wolf to return.”
Coll thought. Wolf would return, wouldn’t she? They wouldn’t leave crew behind. But … perhaps they knew Rieka had chosen to leave. Fillan had just arrived, was hardly Wolf at all. And as for Coll… Surely Alpha would come back for him, wouldn’t she? Wouldn’t she? Coll rubbed his arm. Yes, she would. If she could. But they’d have to defeat Dragon. They’d have to survive Dragon.
Wait or go to Raven. Raven the enemy. Raven whose crew was gone…
He chewed his lip. “All right,” he said at last. “We’ll take a look.”
