Nate took his ruck off and opened the top to remove the drone he carried. Shane had bought two DJI Mavic 3 Quadcopters. They allowed a phone or tablet to be connected to the controller via the DJI Fly app, and the onboard Hasselblad camera sent back high-quality, real-time footage to the device within a fifteen-kilometer range. It would provide them an aerial view that they otherwise could not have achieved. Shane unpacked the second drone and began setting it up.
“So, what exactly are we looking for?” Shane asked.
“Anything out of the ordinary,” Nate replied. “A tower poking up out of the sand would be great, but I don’t think we’re going to get that lucky.”
“You’re better off looking for additional impact sites,” Ana added.
“Good call,” Nate agreed. “When Philby found the Wabar craters, he said they looked like black walls rising from the ground. We should start looking for something similar. We’ll go north from this location then split off. I’ll go east, you go west.”
“Sounds good,” Shane acknowledged.
With the batteries in and the devices started, the drones lifted smoothly off the ground and began their search patterns. There were four batteries for each drone, which gave forty minutes of flight time apiece, or a little over two and a half hours total. The batteries could be recharged using solar panels, but that would take a while. They would need to make the most of their time, which is why they worked in tandem covering twice the terrain in the same amount of time.
Nate saw mostly sand dunes, interspersed with black glass and small iron deposits. The desert was an ever-changing organism, as the sands blew in from the Mediterranean to the southeast. It continuously covered and uncovered things out in the wasteland, and they would need as much luck as they would skill to find a clue. And a keen eye, which Ana had.
It was after their first battery swap that she noticed something Shane had missed.
“Go back,” she told him. “No, to the east.” He did as she asked. “There!”
“What is it?” Shane asked her, but she ignored him.
“Zoom in there. Can you swing around to the south?” Once again Shane did as she instructed.
Nate had stopped what he was doing and moved closer. Ana seemed very excited about something.
“What is it?” he asked her.
“I’m not sure yet. One moment,habibi,” she said, using the Arabic pet name for “darling.” She had done it reflexively and it made him smile.
“Hey,habibi,” Tim said in a less congenial tone, “we have a problem. Two, really.”
“What is it?” Nate sighed.
“Well, in all your aerial archaeology you probably failed to notice the dark cloud rolling in from the west.”
“Cloud?” Nate turned to peer in the direction indicated. Tim had eyes like a hawk. It was a long way off, but now that it had been pointed out, he could clearly see it. Dust clouds.
“Ahaboob?” he asked, using the Arabic word for “sandstorm.” Tim nodded.
“Well, shit.”
“Looks to be about an hour or so out, maybe less,” Tim said.
“Probably less,” Nate agreed.
“Unfortunately, that’s the least bad problem at the moment.”
Nate looked quizzically at him, and Tim handed over the binoculars and pointed off into the distance. He lifted the optics to his face and scanned to the south in the direction his friend had indicated. Hecould make out three trucks, likely Land Cruisers. They were traveling in a tight convoy and unmistakably headed in their direction. This was going to present a bigger problem than the sandstorm, though perhaps one might help offset the other.
“Let’s hope they lose us in the sandstorm,” he said, hitting a button on his tablet that commanded the drone to return to his location.
“Still only a temporary fix,” Tim countered. “It looks like we might have another fight on our hands. Only I’m not sure we can win this one.” His face was grim.
“We’ve had worse,” Nate said.
Tim grinned. “That’s true.”
“Nate!” Wally yelled. “We need you over here, mate!”
