Rae’s eyes drifted back across the gorge, at first vacant, then slowly overcome with a vague resolve, “Scan your memory banks and available data. What’s on the other side of the gorge, past the barrens?”

After a brief delay the scooter replied, “Seventy-three miles past the gorge lies Lake Ungett, a man made resevoir now considered too polluted to…”

“No,” Rae interrupted flatly, “between the gorge and the lake.”

The scooter mech, the electronic copy of her friend, said nothing. A cool breeze wafted by carrying a familiar metallic and charred smell, the smell that pervaded most of the city.

Rae pushed, “Well, what’s there.”

Violet’s voice crackled through with some of its old verve, “You remember that old kid’s movie with the flying dog-dragon thing?”

“I think so, but what…”

“The nothing. That’s what’s up there. Every map, record, and reference. There’s nothing out there.”

Rae narroed her eyes, “Doesn’t that make you wonder?”

“I’m trying not to,” the scooter answered sagely.