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Chapter Seven

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“You should head north,” Molly said from where she now stood over by the friction engine, instead of between Rat and Boy’s chairs, as she usually did when they flew. “Isa says their home’s on top of the next mountain range. It took them three days on foot to reach this valley so it shouldn’t take us long by air.” She was looking across at the four women huddled together far down on the port side.

Rat looked over to see what held the older robot’s interest. “Please tell me they’re not down there plotting to overthrow the three of us and toss us off our own airship.”

Only then did Molly turn and face Rat. “I don’t think so, but maybe we should get them back home before they figure out there’s more of them then there are of us.”

At that very moment, all three women cautiously headed their way.

“Something tells me they already have.” Rat stood and moved over next to Molly. He kept his voice low and said to her, “So, tell me again, who is who.”

Molly took the hint and kept her own voice low. “Isa is the one you can’t stop looking at.”

Rat tapped her on the shoulder and frowned.

“It’s true. You haven’t stopped looking at her since they came onboard.” Molly paused, as if daring him to refute it. When he didn’t, she continued: “Hali is the short blond and Ife the tall, lanky one.” The closer the women got the lower Molly’s voice went. Rat was soon leaning down to hear her. “And Selene is the little one with brown braids. You really should be focusing on her instead of Isa.”

“Why?” Rat quickly asked. “And I haven’t been focusing all of my attention onto Isa.” His face flushed hot when Molly only stared up at him without blinking.

“Whatever,” and she turned and looked at the four women again. “I walked into the galley earlier and caught Selene stealing an apple from the storage drawer.”

“Maybe she was still hungry.” Rat understood hunger. He had gone through more than his fair share. But he still had days when he felt the need to check the storage lockers himself, just for the reassurance that he had enough to meet his needs.

“Earlier, I gave them each a loaf of bread, some cheese and an apple. There was no reason to steal another. Besides, I had already told them that if they needed more I would be happy to give them it. But I also told them that we kept a record of how much food we had on hand, so we would know if it needed to be rationed in case you were ever stranded.” Molly folded her hands across her midriff. “Mark my words: an apple today—your airship tomorrow.”

The women had drawn near enough now that Rat swallowed his chuckle, in case they thought he was laughing at them.

“Ladies,” he said. “I hope you’ve rested up and eaten your fill.”

Selene held out a half-eaten apple and smiled. “I’ve never tasted anything as wonderful as this.”

“I couldn’t agree more. The first time I was given apples I ate so many I had stomachache for two days.” Rat nodded at the fruit in Selene’s palm. “You might want to slow it down, though, until your stomach has had time to adjust to having something in it again.”

He turned to Isa; her dark blue eyes hadn’t left his thoughts all morning. “Once we’ve left the valley I’ll lower the airship below the clouds so we can see the lay of the land better. Do you think you could tell from the air which direction we need to go? I don’t know anything about this area and only wound up here by accident.”

His dark beauty now displayed a doubtful expression, but she nodded. “Of course. We were never blindfolded, so I tried to remember each and every landmark. I knew that when we got free from those awful men, we would have to find our own way back home.”

Rat smiled. “You never doubted it, then?”

Isa lifted her chin. “Of course not. Why would I? Those guys were far too stupid to ever keep us for very long.”

Of that he had no doubts, but then he noticed Isa shiver. “Go with Molly to my cabin and she’ll find something of mine to help fight the chill off. It gets cold up here.”

As they turned to follow Molly, he stopped Isa before she could walk away. “Come back as soon as you have something for your arms. I’m going to be dropping the airship to a lower altitude soon and I’ll need you stationed in the bow, to keep a sharp lookout for landmarks.”

Isa nodded and looked as if she might say something else but bit her bottom lip before turning and following Molly. Rat would have given an entire basket of apples to know what was going on in that head of hers. It was obvious she still didn’t trust him even though he had done everything in his power to rescue them and was even now putting off his own journey to return them to their homes. He could understand why she wouldn’t trust strangers, not after having gone through such a horrific ordeal with her kidnappers, but hadn’t he proven already that he was nothing like those other men?

More importantly, why did he even care what Isa or the others thought of him? In a few hours he would have them back home and be on his way to Freedom as originally planned. They would soon forget him, even if it took him much longer to forget this raven beauty.