Approaching the city from the north-northwest, they found themselves stumped as to how to get across the Baumton Canal -- and the War Walls, glimmering in the distance, promised an even more difficult obstacle for anyone trying to slip into the city. "It looks like we can climb up on this road," suggested the self-named Silver Valor. "It's got a bridge heading across here and the river, and the traffic is really light -- must be because it's getting kind of late in the day."
Jarissa squinted at the spot where the giant wall and the road met; it was much closer to the canal, little more than half a mile south past the steep shore. She'd have climbed a tree for a better view if any of them actually exceeded the level of the controlled-access highway, but the only ones present were manicured little cherry trees, no more than four years old, and probably transplanted into these neat rows within the past year. "I think there's a toll booth," she said slowly, "and men with guns. So, maybe inspections."
And inspections meant proof of citizenship, which they didn't have, and records of their passing, which they didn't want so soon; he thought briefly about climbing along on the underside of the bridge, decided he didn't care to risk getting shot or trapped, and glanced back toward the west. "Well, that leaves the train tracks again."
"Elevated," Jarissa noted, tail twitching anxiously behind her. "We can climb the strut there where it bends south, just before the shore; but it's going to be rough going. And we can't get above the train, so we can't get on top of the train, so we'll have to hope none comes along while we're crossing the water or passing through the wall or whatever."
"We can probably make that, no problem," Silver replied calmly. "The trick is just getting up onto the tracks in the first place, without drawing attention." A thought struck him, slowing down his words: "Uhh, how thick d'you suppose that wall is?"
As her gaze swept from the metal strut over toward the track's tunnel into the War Wall, a momentary change of shape in the entrance's shadow made her flinch. Her right arm snapped out as if to bar Silver's forward motion. "'Tchoosee tha'?"
Luminous blue eyes blinked. "Hunh? You're slurring again."
Jarissa's tail lashed twice, expressing frustration that her face could no longer display, and she forced herself to repeat more distinctly, "Did you see that? Something jus' swung up from under the track."
By careful squinting and a little luck, Silver managed to focus on the blob of darkness as it straightened to a man's height on the track, tested its balance for an instant, then hurried into the darkness. "Well," he replied cheerfully, "at least we know now it can be--"
Anything else he said was lost in the abrupt roar of a passing monorail train, racing into the city at an astonishing speed.