Chapter 22

When Maximus woke up the next day the truck was already moving. He woke up to see Rex sitting beside him and Daedalus curled up in a corner. "Hey you're finally up," Rex said.

Maximus got to his feet to see Achilles at the wheel again. Hedger was beside him combing through his wings. "How come no one woke me?" Maximus asked. Rex was busy chewing on a twig, Maximus realized he was using it like a toothpick. He took it out of his mouth and said "Didn't see the point. No breakfast today since we're low on supplies, and Achilles said he would drive so we thought we'd just let you sleep in. It's not like we got anything better to do." Maximus was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes now. "What do you mean low on supplies" he asked.

"Well, after the delicious dinner yesterday all we got left are some fish. And we really got to eat those soon, I think they're starting to go bad," Rex said. Maximus paced around the truck for a while. He didn't get any visions or dreams last night. He guessed that the voice was not in a very talkative mood. But Maximus was sure he would hear from it soon enough. He got tired of pacing around and soon sat down looking out the window. Rex was right about one thing, there was nothing to do. All around them was just sand. The only forms of life out here were a few cacti and the occasional gecko. They did see another group of sand-goblins but these ones left them alone. There were no signs of any giant desert serpents either, which Maximus wasn't complaining about.

After a while Maximus said, "Kind of dull compared to yesterday huh?"

"You mean with no gods popping out to say hi, yeah it kind of is," Rex said. "Don't relax just yet we still got a day to go before we reached the city. But I guess we have to stop to eat," Achilles said.

"I'll say. The fish are starting to smell," Hedger chipped in. Soon they stopped at another oasis. This one was not nearly as big as the last one, more like a really large puddle. They started up a fire again and soon enough they were chewing fish bones. "So, we gonna head into the city tonight or in the morning?" Hedger asked them.

Maximus just stared at him, confused. "Oh, I almost forgot, you didn't get the daily Daedalus update while you were asleep," Hedger told him. He explained to Maximus that when Daedalus was back to his senses this morning he mentioned that he had been to this area before. He said that the way they were going was a trail which people rarely took and had no real entrance to the city. So when they reached the city they would need the help of their border patrol to get in. Daedalus also mentioned that it might be smarter to approach them in the morning, since if they went at night they might get mistaken for bandits and get shot at.

"So what's the plan?" Maximus asked, now that he was up to date with the whole story. "Well, that depends on whether or not we can make contact with my friend in Vulcan city before we reach it. If we do we can go in tonight. He will escort us in without any problems," Achilles said.

"And how exactly are we supposed to contact him from the middle of the desert?" Hedger asked, throwing away the fish bone he was chewing on. Achilles opened his bag and started searching, then he took something out and said, "With this."

Achilles showed them a black, rather bulky-looking box with an antenna. It was a walkie-talkie. "I have been trying to contact him every two hours or so since morning," Achilles said.

Maximus had used them before while in the army. But he didn't think that the range was so good that it could cover half a desert. "So your friend already knows we're coming then?" Rex asked.

"Actually I haven't seen him in quite a while. But if I know him he'll have one of these with him all the time," Achilles said, putting away the walkie-talkie. Maximus wasn't so sure about this but he had learned to trust Achilles enough by now not to ask questions.

Soon they were on their way again. Maximus drove for awhile and he was doing fine until they reached a point where the trail had mountains of sand covering it. At that point Achilles took over again. Outside the scene shifted from sands to sands with more rock formations. They kept on driving till the sun began to set again. That's when Daedalus had his second daily awakening. "Ah... Maximus. Good to see you up young man. You were still asleep when I woke this morning," Daedalus said with a smile.

"Likewise sir," Maximus replied. Daedalus looked outside and said, "It seems we are nearing the location. The Vulcan capital is built on a harder surface than the desert, and the increase in rock formations and such seem to suggest that we are in close proximity to the city by now". Daedalus then turned to Achilles and asked, "Have you made contact with your friend yet?"

Achilles shook his head and said, "Not yet, and it's already becoming dark out. I guess we'll have to spend another night in the desert before we reach the city."

Daedalus nodded, "Try to get as close to the city as possible before we set up camp. The guards shouldn't try to stop us until we reach the city walls." After fifteen minutes Daedalus went off to dreamland again and they kept driving through. Once a couple of hours more had passed they started to see something from the horizon. They were street lights and Maximus realised that they had nearly reached the city. Once the city lights were in view Achilles said "This is as close as we can get without being spotted. We'll stop here for the night and head to the city once daylight hits us."

They nodded in agreement and got out. The desert had become ridiculously cold again and they started to build a fire one last time. They were on the last strands of their supplies. They just had a few vegetables and the emergency provisions they had salvaged from the wrecked car. They turned out to be some very tasteless crackers. They ate and talked for a while. And soon enough they were heading to sleep with Hedger standing watch for the night.