Yale caught up with Julia in the mid-afternoon, after they’d stopped for a long break that wouldn’t have been necessary several months ago. “Perhaps you could join me in the Dune-Rail for a little while? I’d like to talk to you about something.”

A cautious look crossed her face, but Julia nodded. “Sure.” She stowed her pack and slid into the passenger seat. “What’s going on?”

“I understand you’ve been talking to Morgan about John.”

She looked at him sideways. “I’d wondered if True was eavesdropping. She was trying not to be obvious, but…”

“Yes. She came to me before the break.”

Julia leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “I’ll be honest, Yale. I think Danziger probably is trying to take on a little too much, at least right now, but I’m not sure Morgan is the right person to take over.”

“I don’t think anyone wants Morgan to take over except Morgan. But I’m concerned. I believe he might be about to start something.”

She was silent for a while before she responded, and when she did, her voice had gone soft. “I’m afraid of that too. But I’m not entirely sure what we can do about it since I don’t know exactly what he has in mind.”

“Yet we can’t do nothing.”

“No,” she answered. “We can’t. Do you have any suggestions?”

Yale was the one who was silent for a period this time while he thought. “John’s decision this morning was safe enough, but failing to proactively plot a course could become dangerous later. We still have some less-than-desirable geography to confront.”

“If you want to know the truth, I’m not sure he could read the map.”

Yale looked over at her sharply. “What are you suggesting?”

“He frequently reads things two and three times in a row before he understands them, and his handwriting is terrible. True told me once that he’s never read out loud to her.”

“The lower levels of the Stations are not known for the quality of their educational system.”

“Those are also signs of dyslexia. Danziger shows a number of other characteristics as well.” She glanced back at the subject of their conversation for a second. “I doubt it’s very severe, and he may not have ever even been tested. But it could be helpful if we…reassigned some of the things needing to be done.”

“To Morgan, you mean?”

“Do you think it would placate him?”

“Perhaps,” said Yale. “But I’m not certain I would trust Morgan to plot a safe course either.”

“Maybe the two of you could do it. Yale, I’m only thinking out loud. Something’s going to have to be done before this group tears itself apart, and it’d be better if there wasn’t a confrontation.”

He had to admit that she had a point. “Let’s think about it for a while.”

“We can’t take too long.” Julia leaned back again, and then frowned. “Huh. Look at that.”

He glanced up and frowned as well. “Rain clouds. I didn’t expect to see those.”

“No. Did the probe data suggest any weather would be moving in?”

“It didn’t.”

Julia took out a scanner. “Well, something is. The barometric pressure’s beginning to drop. Just a little bit, but it’s a definite trend.”

Remembering Bess’ uneasiness, Yale began to study their surroundings for potential locations to take shelter. He hoped they wouldn’t need it. But it never hurt to be cautious.

“Why are you trying to take over from my Dad?”

“What?” Morgan stopped in his tracks to stare at True, completely nonplussed. “Where did that question come from?”

“You’re talking to everyone about how he isn’t doing a good job. But you know Devon left him in charge. Why are you trying to change all that?”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do,” he said, hating the defensive tone that crept into his voice but not managing to get rid of it. “I’m just — concerned about some of the decisions he’s been making. Or hasn’t been making. That’s all.”

She shook her head and put her hands on her hips. “If you were concerned you’d go talk to him. Instead you’ve gone to Yale and Julia behind his back. You’re trying to take over.”

“I have tried to go talk to him! He wouldn’t listen!”

“True,” said Bess gently from behind her. “Morgan’s not trying to do anything to hurt your father, and he knows that Devon left him in charge.”

“So why doesn’t he act like it?” She turned toward Bess and Morgan briefly closed his eyes in relief. It seemed that this time, at least, his wife was going to support him after all.

Bess knelt down next to True and spoke to her, but her eyes found his face. “It’s complicated, honey. We’re all kind of concerned that your Dad’s getting close to his limit. That can hurt him as much as it can hurt anyone else.”

“Dad’s fine. He’s handled a lot worse than this before.”

“This exact situation’s new for him. It’s new for all of us.” Bess stroked True’s hair, but her eyes had flicked up to the sky. The clouds, Morgan noticed, were thickening, and the breeze had increased to the point that it was starting to blow his hair around. Reaching back, he drew it into a ponytail.

“That doesn’t mean he can’t handle it,” argued True. The look on the girl’s face was positively mulish. “He can handle anything if he puts his mind to it.”

Morgan had heard several of the adults — Yale and Danziger included — use that truism on the kids several times, generally when they were whining about having to do something. He realized he was going to have to say something. “True, just because someone can do something doesn’t always mean they should. Your Dad’s not the only person here who can handle things.”

“But he’s the one Devon put in charge. That ought to mean something.”

“It does,” said Bess, jumping back in although she was still staring at the clouds. “But being in charge doesn’t mean you have to do everything. That’s all.”

“So you’re not trying to take completely over?” asked True. “Just get him to let other people do some things too?”

“Yes,” said Morgan, realizing that this was what he’d actually wanted. Danziger just needed to delegate. It was safer that way for all of them.

Bess nodded and opened her mouth as if she was about to agree, but a large raindrop suddenly fell directly into her face and she flinched back. Recovering, she patted True’s hand and then straightened up. “Speaking of doing things,” she said, “why don’t you go see if Julia needs any help with the medical supplies?”

“Sure. Why?”

“I think we’re going to need to take shelter soon,” she said softly, starting to move toward the Trans Rover.

Danziger swore under his breath when the rain started falling in earnest. This was not what they needed on the first day back on the road. He turned around to look at the sky behind them. It was filled with angry thunderclouds.

“Cameron!” he yelled, running toward the Trans Rover. “Shut it down! We need to extend the canopies!” Looking again at the storm racing up behind them, he wondered if he might not want to pull out the side braces as well.

The Dune-Rail roared up beside him and Julia jumped out. “Medical supplies are secured. Is everyone accounted for?”

“Not yet.” She nodded once and turned to start a head count, calling first for Alonzo. He smothered a brief smile at her choice, but he didn’t give it much thought; there were more important things needing his attention. “True! Uly!”

Uly’s head popped up over the side of the Rover’s cargo area. “Here.”

“Good. Stay there. Where’s True?”

“Off somewhere.”

That wasn’t very useful. He started running back through the scattered people even as the rain began falling in sheets. “True! Get over here! Everyone else, start tying down and get to the Trans Rover.”

Bess caught his arm as he passed her, causing him to stagger. “No time!”

“What?”

“There’s no time to tie down! We need to take shelter!”

“The Rover —”

“That’s not good enough!” She pointed at a nearby cave opening. “Get everyone in there!”

Danziger glanced at the sky again. The clouds looked like boiling water, but it didn’t seem any worse than any of the storms they’d weathered after they first landed. “Rover’ll hold up.”

That was when he heard True scream. He turned to look the other way, forward of their position, following the sound of the noise. His daughter, thank goodness, was perfectly safe; she was running toward him as fast as he could.

But behind her, on the horizon, he saw something that even his Station-trained instincts knew couldn’t be a good sight. He looked back down at Bess to find that she had gone pale. “That’s a problem, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she said, staring at the rotating funnel that was roaring toward them. “It is.”

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