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behind,” Kyber answered.
                “What? He did what?” Fullgrath strode toward them.
                “He wants Sandow to test the creature Hoov killed, to see if it might be edible for us,” Kelen added.
                “How long ago did he leave?”
                She barely managed to shrug. “I have no idea. I’ve lost all track of time.” She peered up at Jules. “How far have we come?”
                “According to this, a little over two kilometers.”
                “How much further do we have to go? Do we know?” Kyber inquired, weariness evident in his voice. She glanced down at the bandage Sandow had wrapped around her husband’s waist and hip to hold the healing patches in place. Blood had seeped through the cloth, but it appeared to have dried. There were no fresh blossoms as far as she could tell.
                Jules sighed loudly and voiced what they already knew. “I have no idea.”
                A ratcheting sound drew their attention to the head of the line. Hoov made its way toward them, backing up as there wasn’t enough room for it to turn its long body around. It stopped near Massapa and Tojun, who moved out of its way. Kelen made a mental note of the incident. It seemed all of the Seneecians were leery of their host.
                “Go.” The creature made a motion with one appendage, as if to wave them on.
                “How much further, Hoov?” Fullgrath asked.
                “Soon.”
                “You said that two kilometers ago,” Jules snapped back.
                Hoov turned its eyes on the ex-navigator. “Soon. Go.”
                “We’re not like you, Hoov,” Kelen ventured to say. “We’re not as strong as you are. We’ve been injured, and we need to rest. We need food and water. Will there be food and water where you’re taking us?”
                The creature ignored her questions as it continued forward. Resigned, they picked up their parcels and followed, hoping to reach their destination before too long.
                She pressed a hand to her abdomen and tried to prevent Kyber from noticing her discomfort. These familiar cramps told her she was overdue for her six month contraceptive shot, and she bet those medications were not among those that had been extracted from their recent run to the crashed ship. When Hoov declared blood when it sniffed her, she knew it wasn’t because of her leg. She dreaded what the coming hours might bring. Fortunately, Kyber took her distress as reactions to her wounded leg.
                “Let me know when you are unable to continue and I will carry you.”
                “Nonsense,” she abruptly told him. “You haven’t the strength.”
                A partial grin lifted one corner of his mouth. “That is true. Then I will have someone else carry you.”
                She snorted and gave his arm a squeeze. He was trying to keep her spirits up, for which she was grateful.
                They had gone several meters when she saw Mellori take the tablet from Jules and begin working on something. Kelen tried to keep an eye on the bright screen, but their movements kept her from getting a clear view. When they reached a bend in the corridor, Mellori halted and did a three-sixty sweep of the area. By the light coming off the equipment, she saw his perplexed expression as he grunted.
                “What’s wrong?”
                He looked up at her, then at the others who’d noticed he’d stopped and came back to investigate. “I’ve calibrated this to track our movements, then juxtapose our location according to the map on the panel we discovered in the temple.” He tilted the tablet so they could see it and pointed to a tiny yellow pulsing light. “That’s