Marcus cocked his head at the sight of Layne laying on the ground.

  "Why are you looking at me like that?" Layne laid on his side, curled up and peering over his shoulder with one eye open.

  Marcus scratched his head. "Fenicks said everyone was up so I came out." He looked up at the Firestorm.

  "Who?" Layne grumbled. "Oh, yeah. That thing. Dunno." He closed his eye and hugged his shoulders, shifting back into a sleeping position.

  Marcus scratched his head. He wondered why the machine would misspeak like that.

  "Is it time to get up?" Layne mumbled.

  "Daybreak is soon." Marcus stared up at the canopy illuminated by a few rays of the sun.

  With a sigh, Layne opened both eyes and stared at the forest floor for a moment. Then he groaned and pushed himself to his feet. "Let's get moving. The sooner we're ready, the faster we can leave."

  After the two roused the other mechanics, they began assembling the jump box to get the Firestorm started. By the time everything was ready, dawn broke. Just as they finished, a cart hauling bags of supplies atop another jump box arrived. The two drivers, Caeso and Baldmund, Arminius's squires, stopped.

  Caeso waved and jumped down from the cart. "We'll be joining your caravan and crossing with your crew." He was in full armor, with helm hung from a hook at his hip. "Arminius sent us to ensure you were on the move."

  "We'll be in a few moments." Marcus motioned to his own connected jump box.

  "He also told us to give you this. Said it's coming out of your reward money." Baldmund, in full armor, stepped down with two palm-sized powder containers and two small bags in his hands.

  Layne stepped forward and received them. Then he untied one of the bags. "Round shot and paper?"

  Marcus smiled and nodded. "Primed pistols are better than ones that are empty."

  Layne tied the bag shut and together with the others and slung everything over his shoulder.

  "Let's get a move on then." Marcus looked at the mechanics and then turned to go up the ladder.

  The two squires crossed their arms and waited next to their cart. "He's waiting for you in the basin, back the way you came."

  "Understood, we'll head that way." Marcus called out from the first quarter of the ladder.

  Layne climbed just after, trailed by Ekkehard. Marcus readied to enter the hatch, and Layne stopped within reach of the fuel line connected to the underside.

  "I got it. You got to go inside." Ekkehard motioned for Layne to keep climbing.

  Layne looked at the fuel line, then down to Ekkehard. "Sorry, old habit."

  Ekkehard nodded but urged for him to climb by throwing one hand up over his head. Layne relented and followed Marcus into the hatch.

  In the cockpit, the two sat in their respective seats. In front of Marcus, a lone monitor in the center of the console ignited royal blue.

  "Ready to begin startup procedure." Fenicks said over the intercom.

  Layne, already reaching up to the starter buttons next to the gunner's seat, paused and looked over his shoulder to Marcus with raised eyebrows.

  Marcus blinked and stared at the console. "O—okay, let's do it then."

  "Using field starter procedure G-3a. Swap G.N.A. to P.P.S., then toggle S.M.C. to Mode 7—" Fenicks started.

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  "I don't know what any of that means." Marcus folded his hands in his lap.

  A long silence permeated the cockpit.

  "Hey, we going?" Ekkehard called from outside.

  "One second." Layne replied. Then he twisted in his seat to look at Marcus. "What are we doing?"

  "Initiating graphical guide start sequence." Fenicks said.

  The three monitors in front of Marcus, and the five in front of Layne ignited. A list of items appeared across two screens. A diagram then appeared on the right-most monitor of each console indicating a physical switch on either the overhead or floor-mounted control panels beside the given seat.

  Layne turned to look at the monitors in front of him then back to Marcus, blinking rapidly.

  Marcus sighed and gave him a reassuring nod. "Just follow the directions."

  Layne hesitated, then did as asked.

  They began flicking hard switches on the panels. First the interior lights came on. Then the forward wall turned transparent and revealed the forest in front of them. A fan began blowing and a vent overhead parted, releasing mild, comfortable air, albeit a bit dusty.

  "That's new." Marcus looked up at the vent.

  The two finished flicking switches. All that remained was to start the engine.

  Fenicks spoke over the intercom. "Initial C.I.C. checks completed. Active monitoring systems green. Instrumentation checks green. Communications array checks green. Weapons guidance interface green. Power draw stable. Continuing energy efficiency mode while on emergency power. Ready to engage powertrain."

  Marcus pushed the clutch in. "Go for it." He looked at Layne.

  "Hit it." Layne shouted at the hatch.

  The jump box roared to life outside. Ekkehard smacked against the hull. Layne pressed the switches to start the engines.

  After cranking for a moment, the twin engines roared to life but caused the cabin to vibrate harshly.

  "Adjust choke to 72 percent." Fenicks called out over the noise of the engine filling the cabin.

  Layne reached over and pulled two levers slightly down. The vibration eased.

  Marcus wiggled the gear shaft to ensure it was in neutral, then eased off the clutch.

  "Detaching, see you on the other side." Ekkehard shouted. He then reached in and pulled the hatch closed, which then sealed on its own with a hiss. The noise in the cockpit quieted to a near-hush.

  "I hope he means the bridge." Layne sighed.

  After the hatch sealed, a box appeared over a small section of the forward view, a moving image of Ekkehard climbing down the ladder from over his head.

  "Didn't know it could do that." Marcus stared and watched Ekkehard descend to the ground. Then it followed him rolling up the detached fuel line and walking back to the jump box.

  "Power levels climbing at nominal rate. Exiting efficiency mode." Fenicks spoke from the monitor in front of Marcus.

  A series of green lines overlaid the forward view forming the silhouette of a box converging into the distance, each with markers and numbers. More symbols appeared next to the box, circles and arrows. Marcus hadn't ever seen any of that before, and didn't know what any of it meant.

  "Beginning active sweep." Fenicks spoke.

  "What does that mean?" Layne replied.

  "Based on current mission briefing, analyzing nearby entities for possible threats and creating a route to maximize travel success." Fenicks said.

  In front of Marcus, the left-most monitor began listing names beneath the heading 'Potential Targets'. Layne's left-most monitor showed the same.

  "Even the squirrels are threats?" Layne scoffed and shook his head.

  "Rodents can be leveraged as observational agents and must be taken into account when analyzing threats." Fenicks replied.

  "Yeah, good luck training one to jot down everything it sees." Layne chuckled.

  "During The Fall, lower Mammalia were implanted with neural interfaces in order to discern the movement of humans. Their clandestine nature made them invaluable tools for reconnaissance."

  "If our enemies are using squirrels as spies, we're not going to get very far." Marcus sighed.

  "Evidence of lower mammal reconnaissance has not been found in the past 324 years, but it cannot be ruled out." Fenicks said. "Scan complete. Beginning routing protocol."

  A map appeared near the right periphery of the forward window, showing the nearby terrain, and a line indicating a route through the forest in the direction Marcus came when he scouted on foot.

  "There's a dragon that way." Marcus squinted.

  "It is lingering in that area. But this route is calculated to have the lowest chance of potential target encounter, and therefore the highest chance of success. The only other viable route would travel with the ground crew, which would increase the risk of their apprehension."

  Layne chuckled. "You're avoiding squirrels and chipmunks." He looked over the entity list and map on his screens. "Great, we have a giant suit of armor that's afraid of tree-rats."

  Marcus shook his head. "Not that, there are also other uprights moving around near where we entered the forest and not to mention the airships that are still docked nearby that could take off at any time."

  "This is both the shortest route, and one with the most cover." Fenicks said.

  "Excuses, excuses." Layne crossed his arms.

  "Ground crew has completed their tasks and are departing." Fenicks spoke and a moving image of the carts packed and departing showed at the bottom of the forward window.

  "What about just going through the forest?" Marcus traced a straight line on the map with his eyes, from where they were to the destination.

  "The density of trees will significantly increase fuel usage and the potential for damage caused by a collision event is greater than 50 percent." Fenicks replied.

  Marcus stared at the screen while listening to the soft rumble of the engine behind him. "We're burning fuel grousing over this. If the route shown is the best, then we'll take it and hope nothing bad happens."