"The travelers came here a long time ago," River Dog. "In the before time, when even the Chinese had not begun marking the days. The travelers were on their way back from a battle that spanned incredible distances across space when their ship failed. Until that failure, the travelers were able to jump from star to star."
Isabel committed the story to memory, knowing she would have to tell Max and the others.
"The travelers were supposed to hold their position," River Dog went on, "until help arrived and the ship could be repaired or abandoned. Whichever became necessary. They were not allowed to remain there because their enemy, a ferocious band of warriors, didn't allow them to. They fled, making a final jump with their faulty star engine. When they reappeared in what they considered normal space, their ship was crippled worse than before. First they were trapped by the pull of the moon, then as they came around the moon, the earth caught them and pulled them in. They slammed into the desert here, arriving as a flaming comet. Gradually the sands of the desert pulled the wreckage down into the earth where I showed you."
"How are you talking to them?" Isabel asked, amazed at the wealth of information that the old man had accumulated.
"By the same means they are talking to me," River Dog answered. "It is all part of the vision quest. Perhaps the Mesaliko who first encountered the travelers learned it from them. Or perhaps the Mesaliko taught the vision quest to the travelers."
"How many travelers are there?" Isabel asked.
River Dog shook his head. "I don't know. I have asked them about this, but the answer is confusing. I know there are many, but they say there is only one. The drones are questioning me at the moment."
"The drones?" Isabel asked. "The little metal bugs? Like the one the corpse in Leroy Wilkins's basement had in the bag around his neck?"
"Yes," River Dog replied. "There are thousands of them. Like ants in an anthill. I've seen them. But since the four travelers came for me in the cave, I haven't seen any more of them. They are content to let the drones deal with me and the problems I present."
"You never said how they found you."
River Dog hesitated for a moment. "I think it was the vision quest. And once they found me, they didn't want to let me go. They still don't."
Without warning River Dog's image flickered into and out of existence in rapid syncopation. Concern darkened his features as he turned away from Isabel. "You need to go," he whispered hoarsely, and his voice carried scratchy white noise. "They have found you, Isabel. The drones have found you. If they are able, they will destroy you and your friends."
"I'll be back," Isabel promised. "We're on our way." Then she let herself be pulled from the dreamwalk and back into her body.
In the dark reflection against the windshield, Max saw Isabel stir and come awake. She pushed herself forward, staring down the highway.
"They're coming," she said.
"Who?" Valenti snapped.
"The drones," Isabel answered.
"What drones?" Valenti asked.
"The insect-things," Isabel said.
"Like the spider-thing I saw in the hospital," Kyle said.
"And like I saw when I dreamwalked Leroy Wilkins," Isabel said.
Max peered at the road, wondering if he'd even be able to see the small creatures. "What are the drones?"
"Tiny robots," Isabel replied. "The travelers have been using them to spy on the Mesaliko and Roswell."
"Spy gear," Michael said.
"And weapons," Isabel said. "River Dog says the ship is filled with drones. They were responsible for repairing the ship."
"So have you seen the travelers?" Maria asked.
Isabel shook her head. "River Dog said four of them entered the cave and captured him."
"I thought you said River Dog was in a prayer cave or something," Liz said.
Max saw his sisters brow furrow in frustration.
"River Dog is in the cave," Isabel said. "He thought they took him too. But it was all an illusion. They became forceful with him, trying to find more weaknesses and superstitions to use against the Mesaliko and the people in Roswell, and he found he was still in the vision quest." She pointed. "There's a road up there. Off to the right. It's a dirt road. You'll need to take it."
"They captured River Dog in his vision quest?" Maria asked.
"Yes," Isabel said.
"A psychic captive," Kyle said.
"More or less," Isabel agreed.
"Then River Dog hasn't even been to this downed alien ship," Valenti said.
"I've seen it," Isabel said.
Valenti glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "I don't mean to insult you, Isabel, but you've only seen what you thought was an alien spacecraft… the travelers' spacecraft… while you were dreamwalking River Dog."
"It's the only plan we have," Max stated quietly.
"If the travelers have River Dog captive, how did he get away?" Valenti asked. He pulled onto the dirt road when Isabel pointed again. At the speed he was traveling, the tires slid through the dirt for just a moment, then grabbed traction again and hurtled them down the road.
"When I dreamwalk, the things I see are real. You know that. That's how we found Laurie Dupree in Frazier Woods."
Nobody, Max noticed, said anything about that. Laurie Dupree's salvation had come at a cost to all of them in the long run.
"How can River Dog be in three different places at the same time?" Maria asked.
"When I leave my body on a dreamwalk," Isabel said, "part of my mind stays with my body, keeps the autonomous system going."
Maria looked over the seat at Michael. "The autonomous system keeps the heart and lungs functioning while you're sleeping," she said. "And other things."
Michael gave her a sour look. "I knew that."
"Maybe," Isabel said, "in time I could learn to do what River Dog has done and split off another part of my conscious mind so I can be in two places at one time."
"A doppelganger," Kyle said. "Another self. Some of the out-of-body-experience people talk about that."
"A psychic clone," Michael suggested.
"A master-slave system the way computers are set up," Maria said.
"Doesn't matter," Valenti said. "We'll have to accept that River Dog is in more than two places. However he's doing it."
Max stared into the darkness ahead. Off-road now, Valenti's SUV sped across the dirt road, raising a giant fog of dust that trailed after them like a predatory beast. Metal glimmered in the night, turning dusky gold from the SUV's headlights and occasional silver from the moon.
"There," he said, pointing.
Valenti looked at the tiny shimmering bits of silver and gold. "Could be dust picked up by the headlights."
Then the cloud of spots shifted directions, whipping around and heading on an interception course with the SUV
"Or not," Michael said.
The eeriness of the attack, Max decided, was the absolute quiet. The shimmering things closed rapidly, changing direction as if gravity had no effect on them. Hugging the terrain, they sped for the SUV without hesitation.
"How did they find us?" Valenti asked.
"I don't know," Isabel answered.
"How did River Dog know?"
"There wasn't time to ask."
"Doesn't matter," Michael said. "Just keep the speed up. What are those tiny things going to do? Shatter against the truck? They're stupid."
"They don't think," Isabel said. "They were designed to react."
Tensely, Max watched as the drones unerringly closed in on the SUV The cloud of attackers was broken up into patches, like formations. In the next instant the lead formation smashed into the truck.