There wasn't much room for error. If they hit the portal at the wrong speed-or the wrong vector-then ...

She blocked such thoughts from her mind.

"Steady as she goes," Jordan said, his voice calm and steady, cutting like a knife through her unsettled thoughts.

Good old Jordan.

So much more than just a gunner.

Focus ... this is where you earn your pay.

The nose of the SRV hit the portal with a slamming jolt that tested the vehicle's framework.

The relative shortening of physical reality hit harder this time. A wave of roadsickness swept over Annie. Something that never happened to her.

As her hands flicked over the controls-boosting, adjusting-that old, familiar detachment settled over her.

"It's gonna be all right," she said, not caring if she spoke her thoughts out loud. She didn't glance at Jordan; he wouldn't have reacted anyway.

And then they were through the portal.

Traveling at blinding speed, SRV-66 burst through the portal and angled down toward a long, narrow stretch of landing ramp. Bright sunlight with an odd blue glow filled the cabin with a weird, shadowless light.

Annie let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

The landing gear dropped into place, and the SRV touched down on the ramp with a heavy thud that shook every bolt in the vehicle.

We made it.

She finally took a moment to look over at Jordan.

Surprised to see the faint trace of a smile.

"Closer than I'd like," she said as she pressed the button on the commlink. "Not much of a ramp." Then-all business, "Nakai Control Tower, this is SRV-66, requesting an emergency landing plan at the terminal."

"Nakai," Jordan said. He squinted and leaned forward, looking out the front window at the alien world.

Annie nodded.

"New to me. Never been here before," Jordan added.

The scene outside wasn't inviting.

The way station was all but lost in a distant blue haze that wrapped the world like dense smog. Only this smog wasn't from any industry. The immediate landscape was a stark desert with little evidence of vegetation, other than some small, scraggly growths that looked more like carved rock than trees.

No other signs of life at all.

"Not much reason to come here." Annie glanced at him. "We're off the usual grid."

"But alive."

"Yeah."

Ruth fought to maintain her composure in front of the other passengers. She had been afraid that she was- that all of them were going to die.

Die on the Road.

Wouldn't a true Seeker want that?

Maybe ... but not with so many secrets still to learn.

Gage walked back from the gun turret to get ready for the landing.

He fell into his seat without saying a word. The Chippie, still curled up, had at least stopped crying.

If she had still been connected to McGowan ... what did she see? Ruth wondered.

She was mortified that a part of her wished she had been chipped when he fell.

What might she have seen and learned, experiencing someone else's death?

Then she turned to Gage. "Where are we?" A tremor in her voice.

But it was Nahara who turned and said, "Secondary Way Station is my guess."

She looked back and forth between him and Gage.

"What system?"

"Have to ask the captain that."

She preferred to talk with Gage. Somehow he exuded strength she found ... comforting.

Nahara made her feel all the more scared.

"Don't you think we should turn back?" she asked Gage.

A faint smile played across his lips.

"Not very likely."

"The way I see it," Rodriguez piped in, "McGowan sacrificed himself so we could go on."

"You're kidding, right?" Ruth masked her anger as best she could. "Just like that? You write off the life of a man?"

"One life to save the rest of us?" Rodriguez's expression was flat. Emotionless. "Seems fair to me."

"He knew the risks," Gage said. "It was ... a sacrifice. Best to remember him that way."

"What's the matter, Seeker?" Nahara's voice was low ... and ice cold. "Losing some of your zeal to find the Builders?"

"It's not that, but I-without the troop ship-we may be in more danger than we can handle."

She saw Gage smile at that.

Yes, she definitely felt better around him. Still ...

"Does anyone else think we should turn back? Get some help from the World Council before we go any farther?"

She turned to the Chippie. An unlikely ally.

Sinjira stared at her for a heartbeat or two. Eyes unblinking. Then she looked away.

Faintly, Sinjira said: "After what I've seen ... I don't care either way."

"You're all right with going on? Just so you can make more chips?"

Sinjira shook her head slowly from side to side as if she had heard this all before.

"You recorded a man dying, and you-you're going to sell that?"

Her eyes refocused on Ruth. "It may be pain they like, but it also may be their pleasure. Don't forget that."

Frustrated-and outnumbered-Ruth looked away to stare out the side window, watching as the landscape flew by in a blue blur.

There's no going back now ...

No help coming.

She had wanted to be on the Road.

And now, here she was.

The station remained silent.

"The ion storm might've knocked out the commlink."

Biting her lower lip, Annie nodded.

"Not sure. Looks ... okay ... no?"

All systems checked out. But there still could be all kinds of shorts and glitches, giving a false reading. She toggled the switch a few times. The monitor showed she was broadcasting.

"Control tower. Do you read me?"

Nothing.

She looked at Jordan. His face pale in the wash of the blue light. Ghostly. Then she checked the radar for the immediate area.

Nothing.

"This ain't right," she said. "There's no traffic anywhere."

Jordan shook his head.

"Not good."

"We'll have to raw dog it," Annie said.

Jordan smiled. "Do you even know what that means?"

"Sure I do," she said. Now smiling as well. Then, she shook her head. "No," and Jordan laughed.

She laughed, too. After such tension, it felt good to laugh.

She was still smiling as she steered the SRV along the winding roads and ramps leading up to the way station terminal.

"I don't like it," she said as they approached the small service area. "No one out. Not even a ground crew."

"Pretty damn quiet."

She looked out at the deserted station.

Dust devils swirled along the tarmac, like a ghost town from one of the many ancient Western movies she used to watch as a kid.

Powering down the engines, she rolled SRV-66 into the terminal.

"So, we'll have to de-ionize and recalibrate on our own."

"Done it before," Jordan said. "No biggie."

"No big deal when you're in a service bay, anyway."

Annie shuddered at the memory of McGowan, but she was sure Jordan could handle it.

But not before they checked out the station.

This is bad ... really bad.

The thought kept circling in Nahara's mind.