Carrin swore again as she realized that she was hopelessly lost.
She pulled her hoverbil down to land to the side of the flyway, musing that at least there was still gravel on this one. Perhaps flying alone through the Kri'enden badlands hadn't been such a great idea. At least she had plenty of water. And a map. The old-fashioned kind, one made of actual paper, rather than digital flyppaper that was used these days. Mrs. Welland didn't keep flyppaper around and certainly no recent maps! She'd not gone anywhere in a long time, Carrin realized.
She looked at it again and wondered where she had gone wrong.
She heard a chuckling sound and put down the map to see a dark-skinned man grinning at her. It was Hellim Haver, who lived on the floor above her. He'd always looked at her like a man hungry, but she was grateful to see a friendly face now.
"Lost?" he asked needlessly.
"No, I'm standing here for the sun!" she quipped.
"Beautiful woman should not be sarcastic to the man who loves her."
Carrin wondered about the bold statement, but felt it better to ignore it. "Mrs. Welland's map is outdated."
"No more than she is. I have to wonder if she's ever used flyppaper for anything!" Hellim said. "Let me look at that."
Carrin let him take the map from her. He looked it over and shook his head. "Most of these roads no longer exist, or are in poor condition. This flyway is this road here," he pointed to the line. "It was never a major road until we started using hoverbils."
"No wonder I'm lost! But why are you here now?"
"Mrs. Welland wanted me to follow you, just in case."