Pavonis b took approximately sixteen Earth hours to track from horizon to horizon, so by Louie's calculations reaching Badr City by early afternoon seemed achievable. She would have daylight to spare to find shelter, safety and with any luck, help. With that in mind Haas jogged down the Abilene's cargo ramp with a determined spring in her step, as well as an extra dose of Safian snuff buzzing in her veins. Unfortunately, Louie wasn't possessed of a pair of legs, or a set of lungs, and his evaluation of her tolerance levels for exercise quickly turned out to be wide of the mark. It seemed five years piloting an APV on a bad diet and irregular sleep had not done her any favours, and the easy bit of her journey lasted no longer that it took her to step out of the Abilene's shadow.

The ship had come to rest on one bank of a shallow river valley, cutting east to west across a wide prairie of swaying blue green grass and fine, red earth. In the far distance a line of jagged black hills sliced across the horizon.

"That's the Rim," Louie explained, as Haas fiddled with the map viewer of her data pad. "It's a caldera, extinct of course, and flooded in antiquity. Badr City inhabits several islands in the lake's centre, assuming the city is still standing."

Haas decided to ignore the AI's sudden bout of pessimism. The map suggested a road ran along the edge of the Rim, before cutting through the hills and ending at the city's main gate. It appeared to be the only route available and Haas set off through the knee high grass with all the energy she could muster. Sandy dust devils kicked up here and there, where the cover was sparse, forcing Haas to wrap the deep hood of her father's coat around her face, just to keep breathing. Thorny plants clung on in small huddled groups, as if terrified of the next stiff breeze. Their vivid pink and orange flowers strained for the attentions of small swarms of bee-like creatures, which seemed to be one of the few life-form on the plains. Occasionally she spotted something bird-like, gliding through the creamy coloured sky, but the land itself seemed devoid of cattle or any sign of large predators, and for most of the morning the only break in the scrub and the dirt were the boulders, great lumps of burnished volcanic rock that must have been thrown up from the ground by the same ancient cataclysm that formed the Rim.

It was an eerie experience, walking alone in such a desolate place, and Haas had visited a few planets that completely lacked large fauna, so the landscape of Ierus was nothing new. Rather it was the planet's recent history that was giving her the creeps, especially out here in the open, where she was alone and vulnerable. She was utterly inexperienced in this environment and needed to make it to the cover of civilisation, before her imagination, if nothing else, got the better of her.

Unfortunately, hurrying was out of the question. Louie's environmental data put them only a few hundred meters above the Ierusian sea level. On Earth that would have made the atmosphere thick, oxygen rich and above all, easy to breathe in, but walking across the prairies of Ui'tann she was reminded of Flight School altitude training, hiking up to six thousand meters on the Cordilerra Real. For the first hour the difference was barely noticeable, the Safian snuff was doing it's job, but as the morning wore on towards noon, what should have been a pleasant walk on a warm spring day, became more like an endurance hike. Every step was a punishment, and every mile covered with no sign of possible assistance created another bubble of fear in her gut.

It wasn't until after lunch, a health food bar and half a bottle of water consumed in the shadow of a volcanic boulder, that Haas started to see the first signs of intelligent life. She was on the slopes of the Rim now and the land was beginning to rise towards the vicious line of volcanic rock that seemed to mark the edge of the prairie. Lone farmsteads were the first to appear, then complete settlements. Each contained a cluster of humble buildings all of a similar type; circular, and made of the same red clay on which they stood. Initially they had offered a ray of hope, the chance of a ride in to town at least, but every one had turned out to be empty. Judging by the unkempt state of their little terraced gardens, and their tattered thatched roofs most had been abandoned for some time. They were probably ghost houses, their occupants having perished years earlier when the plague was at its height.

A few though did give the appearance of having been lived in until pretty recently. The roofs were well kept and appeared water tight, the little gardens showed signs of cultivation, with neat rows of young plants and even the occasional basket of flowers. But they too were deserted. Where were all the residents? Had they all upped sticks and moved elsewhere? If so they had done so recently. Why? In the thin, spring air Haas couldn't help feel a chill of concern. She remembered the height of the Pavonovirus outbreak well; the chaos, the terror, the waves of refugees so huge it seemed like the whole Spur was on the move. Could the Lazaretto still be in the grip of such panic? It might not take much. A child with a fever, an old man overheard coughing in his own home, and whole villages might take flight. She needed to reach Badr City and hopefully, find someone with some answers.

Luckily, the road, when she finally stumbled on to it, was in good condition, suggesting that it was a route important enough for someone to care about its upkeep. OK, its construction was a little primitive, with its river rounded cobbles set into a simple raised bank of compacted earth, but it was easy to walk on, and according to Louie, would take them directly to Badr City, through the Rim Pass.

She paused on the edge of the road to take a drink and inhale the last canister of Safian snuff. The fiery drug set off bursts of violet coloured stars in the honey sky. She gulped the air, and felt a wave of precious oxygen surge through her veins.

"How much further, Louie?" She asked, lips tingling.

"The Rim Pass is approximately one mile further ahead." The AI responded before his voice took on a note of concern. "Commander, your vital signs do not appear optimal."

"Is that a polite way of saying I look like shit?" Haas adjusted the straps on her rucksack. The bullet graze that Cherkin had inflicted on her right arm throbbed.

"It has been a stressful forty eight hours," Louie replied.

"That's an understatement."

"Perhaps you should consider a longer rest before continuing."

Haas glanced up at the still cloudless sky. The sun had already dipped below the Rim and in a few hours the first stars would begin to decorate the eastern horizon. If she was still out in the open by then she would be forced to seek shelter wherever she could find it, in a farmstead abandoned due to disease, or among the hard black rocks of the Rim. Pirates or no pirates, Badr City was more appealing than either of those options.

"We keep going," Haas said, drawing her father's coat tighter around her body. Perhaps it was just her imagination but it seemed the chill of a spring evening was already descending across the prairie. Her fingers were growing numb in the cold air and the warmth of thick, Admiralty issue wool was welcome. The only comfort it couldn't offer was relief from the utter silence.

"Louie, there's a copy of Mikkelsen on the data pad," she said, putting one aching foot in front of the other. "Would you read it to me, just for a while?"

The AI was silent for a moment, apparently engaged in the electronic equivalent of hunting through the bookshelf.

"Commander are you aware that this copy is the forty-eight edition?" He eventually responded. "It's thirty years out of date."

"I know Louie. But it's my favourite version."

If the AI found her attachment to an old book strange he said nothing.

"Where would you like me to start?" He asked.

"Start at the beginning, Louie." She replied. "I always start at the beginning."

The AI was doggedly reading the footnotes to chapter one when Haas finally reached the Rim Pass. She had been focused on the act of walking, head down, eyes on the road, forcing each leg to move, and didn't realise how far she'd walked until the cold and the darkness of the Rim's shadow finally crept in to her awareness.

The sun had vanished behind the black, jagged hill tops, but a crack of creamy coloured light was still visible through the narrow pass. The cleft in the dark rock was barely wider than the road on which she stood. The sides, which rose perhaps a hundred metres above her head, were smooth and utterly devoid of shelter. It was a perfect ambush spot, and for the founders and inhabitants of Badr City the Pass had likely proven a useful defence against invasion. Haas tensed her shoulders against a shiver of fear.

"Louie, a distance estimate for the Pass would be handy right now," she whispered, letting her hand come to rest on the clasp of her holster.

"According to the data we have the Rim is no more than a quarter of a mile deep at its widest point," the AI responded.

Haas chewed her lip. She was tempted to run for it. Under normal circumstances a distance of a quarter mile would be no problem for her, but these were not normal circumstances. The euphoria of the last canister of Safian snuff had already worn off and any attempt at unnecessary exertion could be fatal. Besides, she had no idea what she would find on the other side. Better to creep up on the unknown than charge straight at it. She unclipped her holster and drew her sidearm. Its weight was comforting, and she cradled it casually against her chest as she continued her walk. 

The Pass closed around her almost immediately, reducing the sky to a thin yellow line above her head. The glossy black rocks to either side of the road bounced the sound of her footsteps around in an endless cycle of rising and fading echoes, creating the illusion of waves battering a pebbled beach. The noise was disorienting and several times Haas had to stop and wait as a spell of dizziness washed over her. It was as she paused, just short of where Louie estimated the Pass would open out again, that she realised this time the echoes weren't fading away. Instead, the wave-like noise seemed to be drifting through the Pass from somewhere up ahead. As first she thought it must be coming from the waters of Badr Lake, or perhaps it was a flock of birds roosting somewhere above her, but the longer she listened the more she became convinced it was neither. It was voices, perhaps dozens of them, murmuring and chattering to one another.

"I've finally gone mad, Louie," she whispered, edging forward towards the end of the Pass, sidearm raised.

"I'm afraid I don't understand, Commander," Louie responded. "Are you in distress?"

Haas rolled her eyes. It was a pointless gesture with Louie strapped to the back of her rucksack and his on-board camera pointing the wrong way.

"Please tell me you can hear that noise," she hissed.

"You mean the voices?"

"Yes, the voices," she snapped.

"It's Pavonian," Louie announced, as if he were stating the obvious. "I detect at least two of the most common dialects."

Haas paused, pressing her back against the sharp black walls of the Pass. Ahead of her the Rim receded and the sky was beginning to open up again. The buttermilk yellow of the Ierusian day was reddening towards a rosy sunset.

"Louie, why can't I understand what they're saying?" She asked.

"Your neural translator was last upgraded two years ago, Commander," the AI responded with a hint of embarrassment. "Admiralty HQ chose not to include the Pavonian dialects in the last patch as there are no known living speakers of the language outside the Lazaretto."

"Those damn cheapskates," Haas muttered.

Her neural translator was a standard add on for all Admiralty staff. Injected beneath the skin at the back of the ear, the tiny chips were so discreet and efficient that most wearers forgot they were there. It had certainly never occurred to Haas that hers would not function on Ierus. Louie would have to act as translator if she needed to enlist the help of the locals.

Allowing her sidearm to drop back to her side in a less threatening position she continued along the path, until at last she broke out in to the open and the dazzling glow of a full Ierusian sunset. The firey disc of Pavonis b blinded her momentarily and she paused, allowing her eyes to adjust after the darkness of the Pass. The voices continued to echo off the walls of the Rim, and it was as she turned to locate their source that she finally got her first look at Badr City. Her sidearm slipped from her grasp and landed on the cobbles with a clatter, but Haas barely heard it. Her eyes skipped across the landscape, barely knowing where to settle, what to look at first. On the road ahead a dozen cloaked figures, those closest to her, studied her curiously. They were huddled around a small brazier, apparently cooking their evening meal. The smell of roasting vegetables drifted on the breeze, causing her stomach to pinch with hunger. One of the figures paused in their task and lowered its hood, displaying a crown of iridescent scalp feathers. A cautious Pavonian greeting.

"Louie, you have to see this." she said, unstrapping her data pad and holding it up in front of her. The camera function flicked on automatically and a live image filled the screen. Beyond the brazier and its huddle of figures, hundeds of other small fires hosted similar groups, warming themselves against the evening chill, sharing food, chatting in a furious cacophony of trills and caws. The scene stretched away along the cobbled road and further, disappearing in to an evening mist that twinkled with the lights of dozens of small watercraft. Above them the blood red domes of Badr City's ancient skyline glowed in the last of the sunlight. Haas lowered the data pad and lifted one hand to shield her eyes.

"Quite unexpected, Commander." Louie hadn't been programmed for profanity, and this was as close as he got.

Haas on the other hand had been raised by her father. She watched, as a small shuttle, the kind used all over the Spur for atmospheric flight, appeared over the hilltops to the north of the Rim, skimming the jagged rocks, before descending towards the lake and disappearing in to the maze of tightly packed islands. In the cool of the evening, Badr City teemed with lights and the chatter of the living.

"What the fuck is going on?" Haas whispered.