Runaway World

Montes Alpes

     The scenery in Valles Huebenweg was spectacular.

     The mountains were gigantic, far more impressive than anything Britannia Mesa could boast, and the valleys were deep and wide. The rover followed the path of a road from before The Freeze that ran half way up the eastern side of the valley with a precipitous drop to their right, worrying Andrew that a sudden fall of ice might send them tumbling to their doom. The floor of the valley was dotted with several large towns, though, and Cheval worried that they might drop into another ice covered building if they followed that route, even though the ice here was several times as deep as it had been north of the mountains. They would have followed the road even without the threat of the towns, though. The valley branched in several places, many of which also led to the other side of the mountains, and there was no telling which path Fox had taken and so they had to keep following his tracks.

     After they'd been following the valley for a couple of hours Cheval entered the cockpit looking happy and excited. "There was an earthquake at Monte Bondone a few weeks ago," he said. "A big one. We've been waiting for a satellite to pass over the region and we've just got some new images." He tapped some commands into the display interface and a satellite photo appeared on one of the monitor screens. He pointed to a part of the valley considerably further south of their current position.

     "There's been an avalanche," he said with grim satisfaction. "A big one. The entire floor of the valley is blocked with loose ice, and the ice still on the valley walls will be too unstable for a rover to drive over it. The risk of another avalanche would be too great. If he went that way he'll be forced to turn back and try another path. He'll have lost hours of time."

     "If he turned back, his return path might be on the other side of the valley," said Andrew, though. "We might miss it. We might still have to follow him to the site of the earthquake and follow his trail back. We won't gain any time on him."

     "Unless we can anticipate his alternate route," the Sergeant answered. "He'll want to backtrack as little as possible so he'll take the first alternate path he comes to heading back south." He tapped a finger on the monitor screen. "My money's on Civezanno. To the east."

     "That would mean he'd have to remain on this side of Heubenweg," said Andrew, though. "There'd be less chance of us stumbling across his return tracks if he were on the western side of the valley. Suppose he took the Mezzolombardo pass?"

     "That would require him to backtrack more than twice as far," said Cheval doubtfully.

     "But it would pay off for him if it took us longer to pick up his trail again."

      Cheval stared ahead of himself, his eyes unfocused, as he considered the idea. "We don't need to know which path he took," he said at last. "We know where he's going. Etna Mons. All we've got to do is get there before him."

     "If that's where he's going," said Andrew.

     "Have you thought of something else? Some other way for him to dispose of the dysprosium permanently?"

     "No, but maybe he has. With the other two rovers out of commission he might strike out to the west, head for Atlantica Planitia. Look for a gap in the ice where he can drop it into liquid water."

     "New London has already sent out another couple of rovers to rescue the crews of rovers seventeen and eighteen. If Fox started heading west, the rescue rovers could cut him off. He'd be a fool to try it when he has a clear lead over us and a plausible destination ahead of him. No, he's heading for Etna Mons. I'm sure of it." He fell silent for a few moments, staring ahead again as if looking at the idea from all angles, looking for flaws and weaknesses. Then he nodded, though. "Etna Mons," he said again. "And all we've got to do is get there first. We're taking the Civizenno pass. I'll tell the others."