At least the desert was beginning to thin out here. There were still no visible signs of water, but Anna pointed out some grasses and small plants on the ground. If her excitement meant she expected to find water beneath the surface, he doubted there was much. The vegetation was thin and closer to brown and yellow than any shade of green. He wanted to see animal tracks, preferably another large desert cat. He didn't like the idea that he'd almost lost to one last night, and he wanted to set his record straight.
Though maybe another desert cat would bring in another giant bird to carry it away. Add that to his list of reasons why he wasn't comfortable this high up in the air. A bird like that could snatch any of his teammates in a second and be at the other end of this rift before Yoshi could even maneuver himself into fighting position. And depending on which teammate was snatched, Yoshi might just be dragged along for the ride.
If the others had seen what Yoshi saw last night, they wouldn't be enjoying themselves now. That wasn't the kind of bird anyone would want to share air space with.
But maybe they needed to have fun for a while. Javi seemed to love these high jumps, and Kira and Akiko were chattering nonstop about how much nicer it was to be up here in the air.
"Smile, Yoshi!" Kira said. "Or have you frowned for so long that your face would break?"
"It might," Yoshi said. "It's not worth the risk to find out."
After all, Oliver had enjoyed these high jumps, too.
"We might escape the desert by sundown!" Akiko said. "Can't you even be happy about that?"
He forced a corner of his mouth up when he looked over at the sisters. Was that enough of a smile to satisfy them? He hoped so, because it was the best they'd get.
"What are the others talking about?" Kira asked. "They look serious. Aren't they happy Oliver is alive?"
On the other bungee cord, Molly, Anna, and Javi were discussing theories of how Oliver might be connected to the robots, and how much control they had over him.
"If Oliver wanted to tell us something that the robots didn't want him to say, could he do it?" Javi was asking. "Or can he only say what they want?"
"What if he sincerely believes he is helping us?" Molly asked. "Maybe it's less control and more manipulation."
"If so, that's more dangerous," Anna said. "Our best chance for rescuing him is if a piece of Oliver is still fighting against them."
"They're discussing their favorite kind of ice cream," Yoshi said to Kira. That was the easiest answer to get Akiko and Kira back to their happy chatter.
"I heard Oliver's name," Kira said.
"His favorite flavor is bubble gum," Yoshi said without missing a beat.
Kira doubted him, that was obvious. And instead of going back to happy chatter, he noticed both sisters started listening more carefully to the conversation on the other bungee cord. That was fine with him. The girls didn't have the engineering background of the rest of the team, but they were brilliant in other ways. Team Killbot would benefit if the sisters could communicate with everyone equally.
"Water!" Anna shouted. "Water! We have to go down!"
Sure enough, a small pond was set amid some respectable trees and actual plants. Anywhere outside of a desert, it would be considered little more than a large puddle, but Yoshi was grateful for every drop he saw.
Once they hit land, everyone untied themselves from the bungee cords. Anna was first at the water's edge, holding out her hands in a warning against anyone touching the water. Was she kidding? They were all so dehydrated that Yoshi was beginning to feel like the prunes his American grandmother liked to eat. His tongue tasted of blood sand, which made sense. He'd probably swallowed half the desert when looking for Oliver.
"I can't find the water source," Anna said as her eyes passed around the edges of the pond. "Maybe it's a spring, somewhere below?"
"Let's boil the water," Molly said. "Just to be safe."
"I volunteer to taste it first," Javi said. "I'm the vice-deputy Spock, or whatever. I should take the risk."
Take the risk? Sure, maybe there was a risk, but Javi probably felt a lot like Yoshi did. As long as that water wasn't straight up poison, Yoshi intended to drink it.
Team Killbot moved as fast as Yoshi had ever seen, gathering up fallen sticks to start a fire, which Molly supplemented with more of the legal papers she had collected. The wood here was greener than what they'd found the night before, so it took most of the paper to start a fire, but as far as Yoshi was concerned, it was totally worth it. He'd burn his own shirt to start the fire if necessary. He wanted to get water boiling as quickly as possible.
The only reliable container for boiling was his canteen, which was now blackened on the outside from previous fires. It wouldn't offer much of a drink to each team member, but it was a start, and they could keep boiling water until everyone's plastic bottles were full again.
It was funny how much Yoshi's thinking had changed. For now, the biggest issue on his mind was his next sip of water. How silly his life was before, worrying about a high score on a video game or whether the store clerk had shorted him twenty cents on a candy bar that Yoshi would probably throw away half eaten. Yoshi wouldn't throw away a single peanut right now. He was hungry. Molly still had food in her backpack, but Yoshi wasn't sure how much, and he understood why she was saving it.
Besides, Yoshi was far more thirsty than hungry. How long would that water take to boil?
"Look at this flower!" Anna called out from a far side of the pond. "Blue petals! Molly, what do we think of the color blue? Good or bad?"
"The blue berries we ate in the jungle were safe," Molly said. "But that doesn't mean that everything blue is--"
"It's delicious," Akiko said, appearing beside Yoshi with some of the petals in her hand. "Kira and I have already been eating them. Try one."
Yoshi shook his head. "I eat meat, not flowers."
"Ask them what those taste like," Molly said to Yoshi, noticing the petals in Akiko's hands. "Are they feeling any bad effects?"
"They taste like flowers," Yoshi said.
Molly rolled her eyes and went up to Akiko. "Flower."
Akiko smiled. "Ao."
"Ao," Molly repeated. "Flower?"
Yoshi groaned. If they were going to teach each other their languages, they were making a terrible start.
"Ao means 'blue,'" he said. "Not 'flower.'"
Molly looked doubtfully at him, but he was telling the truth this time, and he really didn't care if she learned the word or not. He wanted water.
"I think it's ready," Anna said. "It's going to be hot. We should wait for the water to cool down."
"I'll try it now," Javi said, holding out his water bottle. "I don't care how hot it is."
Anna used the ends of her shirt to pick up the hot canteen and filled Javi's water bottle about a quarter of the way full. He swirled it around, letting the steam rise and commenting on how clean the water looked in comparison to the muddy liquid they'd had before.
Team Killbot gathered around him as he took his first sip. Yoshi could almost taste it in his own mouth as Javi swallowed. Javi moved his tongue around in his mouth, then smiled. "Well, I'm not dying!"
That was good enough for Yoshi. He held out a plastic water bottle just like the rest of his teammates, and swallowed his ration even before swirling any of the steam out. It was hot and burned his throat going down, but he didn't care. He already wanted more.
"Build up the fire," Anna said. "Can anyone refill this canteen?"
Yoshi held out his hand for that job, but instead of stopping at the water's edge, he walked into the pond up to his knees, and dipped the canteen in from there.
"What are you doing?" Molly asked. "We don't know--"
"The water will be cleaner here," Yoshi said, tightening the lid and tossing it out to her. "Besides, someone had to test the pond."
She grimaced, but before she could scold him again, Yoshi closed his eyes, clasped his fingers behind his head, and fell backward. The water's
welcome was cool and refreshing, washing off dirt and sand and blood. He opened his eyes, hearing a splash, and saw Kira and Akiko had joined him in the pond. Javi was next, and then Anna. Only Molly stood at the edge, staring at them all.
"Join us!" Yoshi said, standing up. He was nearly in the deepest part of the pond, and the water only came up to his chest. Even if there was some kind of predator in this water, which there didn't seem to be, he could step on it.
She was right beside his sword, where he had left it leaning against a rock, and he was sure it wasn't an accident that she stayed close to their best weapon. "I'll wait here and keep the water boiling," she said. "You all have fun."
She turned away from them and Yoshi noticed her rub her right shoulder as she did. Was that still bothering her? If so, he thought the pond water would help a lot. Maybe that was all the wound needed, a good washing.
He was interrupted by a huge splash directly in his face. He wiped his eyes in time to see Kira and Anna laughing. Not sure which of them had started it, he splashed them back, although he ended up getting Akiko just as wet. She tried to return the favor, but Javi dived between them, protecting Yoshi. "Sorry, Akiko," he said. "Dudes before damsels."
"Yoshi ... damsel?" Akiko asked.
Javi fell into the water laughing, but Yoshi splashed him anyway. He'd successfully targeted all of his teammates now, except for Molly. But she was dividing the latest batch of boiled water among their bottles, so she'd get a pass.
By now, Yoshi doubted the water even needed to be boiled. As they splashed around, everyone had gotten some into their mouths, and they all seemed fine.
When Molly walked to the water's edge to once more refill the canteen, she came to a sudden stop, raising her hand to get their attention.
"Everyone, stop! Listen!"
When the water settled, everything went silent--except for a buzzing sound high in the tallest tree, which leaned out directly over the pond. What was that? It wasn't a bird, or at least, not any bird he'd ever heard before. But this sound was familiar, part of a world he knew. What was it?
"Static," Kira told him. "A radio is up there!"
Javi recognized the sound at the same time Yoshi translated the word from Kira. They already had one radio from the airplane, but it was small and cheap, and played only static. A voice was coming through this one, if barely. Maybe it had a stronger reception, or maybe it was so high in the tree that it could catch a signal that was lost at ground level. Even if the voice was faint, at least it was something. They had a chance to hear news from the outside world. Maybe they could even retrofit some of its parts to send a signal--to communicate. This was a chance for rescue!
All of Team Killbot emptied out of the pond and stood around the base of the tree, dripping wet. Javi strained his ears to catch any words through the static. It wasn't a music station--the person speaking had the serious, businesslike voice of a reporter, not the joking, musical tone of a DJ.
"Airplane," Anna whispered. "I heard the radio say 'airplane.'"
"Keep quiet and maybe we can hear more!" Yoshi hissed.
The station had gone to a commercial now. Javi could hear the jingle playing. It seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite remember the product. Some kind of fast food, he thought. Even thinking of the possibilities made his mouth water.
"We need to bring that radio down," Molly said.
"I think the reason it works is because it's up so high," Javi said. "If it comes down, it'll probably play static like ours."
"Then we'll jump up to it," Anna said.
"Shouldn't there be other signs of plane wreckage out here?" Yoshi asked. "This far from the crash site, all we have is a radio?"
"I'll bet other wreckage fell into the pond," Anna said.
Javi looked back at the water. Anything big that had fallen into the shallow water would be obvious, wouldn't it?
"I'll take the device up and see what I can hear," Molly said.
"I'm coming, too!" Anna said.
Seeing the two girls pick up their bungee cord, Kira and Akiko began tying the second cord around their waists. Javi knew they wouldn't be able to understand whatever they heard on the radio, but he also understood why they wouldn't want to be left out.
"If they're coming, I need to translate," Yoshi said, joining the girls on their bungee cord.
"We can't all sit on the branches," Javi said.
"We can keep the antigravity on and just hold on to the tree," Anna said. "Let's all go up. The volume might not go loud enough to carry all the way down here."
Javi and Anna joined Yoshi and the sisters. Molly took one device for herself so that she could sit in the branches and work directly with the radio.
With a twist on each of the devices and a coordinated team jump, Javi felt himself floating in the air. But where weightlessness had always given him a thrill, this time all he could think about was the voice on the other end of the radio, barely discernable through the thick static.
Molly had an easy time jumping into the branches, then normalized her gravity while the rest of her team merely held on to a branch near the top, keeping themselves from drifting. They were hovering above the pond, and the water rippled with the disturbance, but it was far enough below them that Javi figured it wouldn't be an issue.
And then he saw what was in the tree, and his stomach lurched in a way that had nothing to do with low gravity.
It wasn't a radio in the tree. It was a mite robot.
This mite looked much like the others, but its legs were slightly longer, more spiderlike, with sharp points that dug into the bark of the tree. It was utterly still except for a blinking red light upon its metallic body.
Javi's mind raced with the implications. And though Molly didn't ask for conjectures, the team spoke up.
"Javi, did you see anything that looked like radio equipment in the bot you dissected?" Anna asked.
"Obviously not!" he said. "I would have said so."
"Is this one way?" Yoshi asked. "Could we get a signal out?"
"Wait, wait," Molly said, and they went quiet enough to make out a few scattered words behind the growing static.
"... emergency ..."
"... disaster ..."
"... Aero Horizon ..."
"That was our airline!" Javi said. "They're talking about us!"
"We have to find reception," Anna said. "Before they move on to another news story!"
"How, Anna?" Javi asked. "That thing doesn't have a dial that I can see."
"No, but our antigravity devices have another setting." Molly's eyes were wary when she looked over at Javi. "We can turn up the technology."
Javi stared back at her, almost not daring to breathe. Exploding that airplane had destroyed their best chance to get home. Exploding this robot might destroy their only connection to home. This was crazy.
But it was necessary. It did them no good to listen to a broadcast that, at best, plunked out a few recognizable words here and there.
"Do it," he said.
Molly rotated her device to the correct setting and pressed the buttons. Below them, both halves of Hercules sparked to life again and flashlights glowed on the ground, even though they were all set to off.
And a voice broke through the static. It was a man saying, "Harper, you're at Aero Horizon headquarters now. What have you learned?"
Harper, the woman who had been reporting before, answered, "There isn't much new information, unfortunately, and Aero Horizon executives are warning the families of the missing passengers not to raise their hopes with today's press conference. I'm told the only reason they are even talking now is because their last press release was so vague."
"If there are press releases, then they're still trying to figure out what happened to our plane!" Anna said.
"Shh," Yoshi said.
Harper continued, "As we're waiting for the executives to come out, let me recap what we already know. The first signs of trouble happened near Fairbanks, Alaska, thoug
h it seemed to be routine weather issues for the area. The voice footage from the cockpit didn't seem to indicate any concern by either the pilots or air traffic control."
"The plane was bumpy over Alaska," Javi said. "But that's normal, right?"
"Shh," Yoshi said.
"Two minutes later, the plane's emergency alarms went off. The pilots recorded having been hit by a bird, but this is considered unlikely. Aero Horizon Flight 16 was at twenty-eight thousand feet at the time of the strike, within the range of very few bird species, and nothing native to Alaska."
The man's voice returned. "Have Aero Horizon executives offered an alternate explanation for what brought the flight down?"
"The executives are coming out now," Harper said. "Let's see what they have to say."
Javi was sure he heard some sort of rumbling sound below them. It was low and deep. He looked at the pond water, which was rippling toward the shores, little beads of it floating above the surface. But what was causing the sound?
"Do you guys hear something?" he asked. "What is that?"
"It's just because we turned up the technology," Molly said. "Maybe the radio that we left down on the ground is echoing back with this one."
"All I want to hear is this radio!" Yoshi growled. "If you all would kindly shut your mouths!"
Molly's explanation made sense, but the rumble still bothered him. He was so focused on the noise that he missed the next speaker's name when he introduced himself, but he was obviously one of the executives.
"We wish to extend our sympathies to the friends and families of the more than five hundred passengers and crew aboard Flight 16," the executive said. "This tragedy has been felt worldwide, and we at Aero Horizon mourn along with you. Although our search for any signs of the missing aircraft continues, the icy waters are making that search increasingly difficult."
"They're searching the water?" Anna asked. "They won't find anything--"
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