Devereux considered what to do with the two bodies. It would be easy enough to blast them to ash, but she was reluctant to waste that much of her weapon's limited charge just for that. Looking around her dusty surroundings, she noted that other than for the road there was nothing else here. There must have been some reason to have this road constructed off the highway. Although, based on the limited number of vehicles that they have even encountered on the main road, she could not imagine what it was.
Studying several clumps of boulders and shrubbery a few meters away, she thought about dumping the bodies there. They would probably be discovered at some point, but not easily seen from either of the roads. Eventually, she figured someone might actually realize the two were missing when they failed to arrive wherever they were going—
She pulled the pilot out first, letting his body drop onto the dirt like loose cargo. Waiting for the dust to settle, she studied his body, noting that he was actually reasonably fit, but had that build of someone who developed muscles for effect rather than from actual usage. It explained his lack of technique and general clumsiness. Before trying to move him again, she searched his clothing for weapons or anything else that might be useful.
After going through his pockets, she had gathered a small collection of items. One was a dark, soft and folded container. Inside it was a set of small brightly-colored plastic rectangles with raised numbers and letters. Inside the long pouch were several long slips of paper-like material printed with numbers and crude images of what appeared to be ancient leaders. Their currency? she wondered. She looked at the plastic cards again, reading their labels more carefully, remembering that this era had possessed the beginnings of virtual commerce. She sat all of these aside with the other objects she had found. Standing, she grabbed his feet and began dragging him through the dirt to the waiting rocks and shrubs.
She repeated the same process with the passenger, finding a similar collection of objects hidden in his pockets. She found nothing that gave her any additional clues as to the purpose of many of the items. Walking back to vehicle after depositing the second man's body, she drew her boots sideways across her path, trying to somewhat obscure her tracks. Not that it mattered, she thought. Even if their bodies are found, it was very unlikely that anyone could track her down.
Returning to the vehicle, she climbed inside, situating herself into the pilot's seat. The instrument panel was both simplistic and confusing. The position of the various status displays seemed almost random. There were several for which she could not readily determine their purpose. Maybe once the power is brought online . . . she considered, looking for something that might resemble a likely looking power control. Her knees knocked against something dangling from the round steering control, making a faint ringing sound. Leaning forward, she studied the small number of oddly-shaped metal slivers of metal handing from a thin ring. One of them was inserted into a slot in the cylinder that jutted from the front of the vehicle, holding the steering control in place. Tiny letters were engraved around the outer rim of the recess where the filled slot was. They did not seem to form recognizable words. Devereux frowned and looked back at the front panel.
