Myself and Mofuni began talks with the Limpiadores early the next morning and made an agreement that they would provide the lorries to use on our expedition, as well as sparing a few men to assist―Francis Travone being among them.
We would leave for the crash site under the cover of night. Outland scanners were, I was told, less inclined to patrol the barren region where the Cloud Runner had crashed, especially at night, but we still could not take any chances. There was a great distance between there and our settlements, and we would have no chance of escaping capture if we were spotted.
Our party took two flatbed lorries, with each having one passenger in the cab and another five residing in the back on the flatbeds, which were walled off with wooden guard boards that circled the rears of the vehicles. It had been alluded to that these may have at one point belonged to some of the older local farms that had long been abandoned. I had to applaud the Limpiadores for maintaining them so well for two Earth decades.
We travelled down a long, dilapidated highway that ran along the coast for the majority of the excursion, driving around abandoned vehicles strewn across the road amongst other road hazards. While navigating the unkempt expressways could be nerve-wracking at times, especially with the low visibility despite the lorry's headlights, Francis led our tiny convoy on rather expertly driving the lorry up front. I resided in the cab right next to him, providing him guidance with the aid of the Cloud Runner's holographic homing beacon I held in my hands.
I watched the numbers acutely as we gradually closed our distance, my excitement growing a smidge more with each mile we passed. I wasn't sure how far this road would take us to the crash site, but I prayed that it would take up the majority of the way. It was spacious and relatively devoid of terrain elevation and deviation; the Cloud Runner and the lorries would need and decent path to float across if we wanted to bring it home quickly with little time spent finding alternate routes. The trek back would ultimately prove the most critical.
"It's been thirty minutes, my dear girl," Doctor Mofuni announced from the back, poking his head through the cab window, "what's the current status of things?"
"We're making good progress," I relayed, showing him the orange holographic coordinate map I had in my hand. "We're about nine miles out. At the rate we're going, we'll be there within the hour."
"Ah, good to know. Carry on!" Mofuni nodded dependently, for he had tried reading the readings spelt out in Lylat on the hologram and gave up trying to understand them. He slinked back out into the elements with Aaron and Rob, who had both accompanied us on this outing. Francis smirked, though his eyes did not deter from the road.
"Jittery fellow, isn't he?" he noted to me. "I take it he doesn't leave Red Bay much?"
"No. He has mental deficiencies that handicap him in certain ways," I briefly explained.
"Oh. Poor guy," Francis sympathised, briefly looking through the rear-view mirror. "I get that he was associated with the folks who helped to open the gates of Hell, but we've all been through too much since then―so has Mofuni I imagine. I still gotta thank you again for setting the Chief straight. We all gotta grow up a little bit here."
"I wish it did not require such a threatening demonstration," I lamented, my ears folding a little. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that. I never wished things to escalate the way they did…"
"No sorry. The Chief is a stubborn jackass that needs course-correcting a lot," Francis reassured. "Nobody could get him off of Mofuni's case, so I'm happy you managed to. It was kinda satisfying seeing him scared straight, honestly."
I still regrated my conduct down in the mine, but I was pleased to hear that Francis at least thought it necessary. This was one of the reasons why I knew Francis and his peers were interested in working with me. Having provided the means to help tow my crashed Arwing was just one of these proven instances.
While I may have convinced the majority of the Limpiadores to cooperate with us, I unfortunately knew that Gus saw me as a threat to his domain over his rebel followers seeing how eager they were to rally behind me now. I doubted he would adhere to my firm conditions forever; there were still those amongst him who shared his mistrust of me. I prayed that peace would be maintained indefinitely, but I unfortunately had to be cautious; for myself, for Red Bay, and as well as those in Gus's faction who traipsed with me.
While the freeway carried us far, just over halfway across the gap to the crash site, the road began to deter south towards the mountains. We would have to traverse off-road the remainder of the way. The lorries were fortunately equipped for such a job, and the arid terrain was rather forgiving considering what it could have been if the rocky coastal road we had been rolling down showed me anything.
Though traversable enough for our convoy, it was still a bit of a rough ride with the uneven terrain. There were even a few short hills to climb, which did not help to ease the already uneasy passengers behind me and in the lorry following behind us. We were doing something extremely risky by coming out here which was a no-brainer, but I had to thank them all for volunteering to do this at all.
The thoughts belonging to the people behind me were loud and numerous. Mofuni was intent on keeping his head down and waited for us to arrive. Aaron acted casually to establish the mood for everyone, though I sensed he was very much on guard.
And Rob, bless his heart, must have been the most worried out of all as he held his pistol tightly, tapping his finger on the trigger guard, and bouncing his knee anxiously. This was one of the few times he was out on a major excursion under the voucher of Doctor Mofuni. While nervous, I could tell that this was also rather thrilling for him at the same time. The promise of seeing an alien spacecraft was so great to him, and to all the others, they felt the risks were worth it to them.
How strange was it that I was actually now feeling what they were feeling rather than reading it off of their subconscious thoughts like I usually do?
"It's dead ahead…" I announced, pointing ahead in suspense that had been withheld for long enough.
Francis reacted promptly and held his arm out his window, signalling the lorry behind us to start slowing down. He applied gentle pressure to the brake pedal as a massive boulder appeared in view by the lorry's headlights. All the passengers in the back began to cautiously rise to a stand, looking on and what loomed before us.
"This is the rock?" Francis asked me. I looked at my ship's homing beacon, and the holographic measurer determined that the Cloud Runner was presently twenty feet in front of us. There was no mistaking it.
"We've made it," I grinned with joy as I put my beacon away. "She's still here."
Francis put the lorry's parking brake on and killed the engines, though kept the headlights shining on the most valuable boulder on Earth to me. We both opened our cab doors and stepped outside. It had been too busy keeping us on course while on the drive here, but now that I was outside, the realisation that I had once again returned to my landing site was a surreal experience.
It all began here, and I remained on Earth since then. Getting my Cloud Runner powered up and flying again was just one step closer to finding my path back to my realm. I was now finally beginning to accomplish my first task since marooning on this planet.
"Great Scott―what a rock!" Doctor Mofuni exclaimed, though his tone wasn't completely sarcastic. A good part of him seemed to truly admire the scale of this image of a giant boulder projected by my ship's camouflage feature, which did not falter in the slightest since I first commenced it and has remained on since. I gave my eternal thanks to the genius design of Slippy and his father.
Aaron leapt off the lorry and landed on his feet, his massive size causing a tiny tremor beneath my sandaled feet. "My, my; and this is all a projected illusion?" he asked, walking up next to me with Rob close behind.
"Indeed, it is, and it looks like it kept my ship safe," I said, hardly able to mask the delighted grin on my muzzle.
"Well…let's see what's underneath, lassie." Aaron nudged, quite curious about what he had been hyped up for―and one of the biggest reasons why anyone was out here in the first place. And speaking of the near-dozen individuals who accompanied us, they all began making their way out of our transports and began to gather around the front lorry's headlights. All of them had their eyes on me and the device in my hand.
Not wishing to prolong their anticipations, nor my own, I looked amongst the humans and gestured that they take a small step back. "All right, everyone," I announced, taking a step forward as my shadow from the headlights showed across the fake boulder. "There might be a little flash, so mind your gazes if you can."
Holding up my beacon, I circled my thumb around the switch that would once again set the environmental camouflage screen to disabled, and flicked it to such a second later. The boulder's projection shimmered for a second and burst into a ray of technicolour film before dissipating just as quickly, revealing the prototype of the Cloud Runner V1 with its nose buried in the dusty soil just as I left it.
A tremendous stir evoked the party as they gazed upon what now took the place of the former boulder, and they all were nothing short of amazed.
"Holy…"
"Damn, look at that thing!"
"beydan ya rajulu!" many uttered aloud in disbelief.
I was almost at a loss for words myself. Aside from a grimier exterior made obvious by the Cloud Runner's white panelling, she remained virtually pristine. It was an absolute joy seeing her again.
"Holy cow…you really are an alien…" Rob gawked as he stepped forward, looking on at the Cloud Runner in awe.
I didn't reply and instead watched as all the others began to walk around my Arwing that now beheld them, marvelling at its size and streamlined design, and eventually realising the long trail in the earth that led up to its aft side. I soon noticed the bold red emblem of the winged fox plastered across the white haul behind the cockpit. I had not worn my pilot's jacket in some time, marking this the first time I had seen that logo in a while. It made me all too sentimental. I felt a little homesick, peppered with a dosage of sadness.
"How peculiar," Aaron noted, his voice calm and levelled, though his eyes were wide with fascination. "I was almost half-expecting this thing to have a neck of some kind given its inspiration."
I smiled and managed a brisk laugh. "A neck would not have been practical on a spacefighter, my friend. I did not take inspiration from every feature belonging to a Saurian CloudRunner. And besides, Arwings have to meet a certain design standard; my prototype is already pushing those standards."
As entertaining as it was to hear and see all of my friends revel at the sight of my marooned Arwing, one voice had noticeably been absent from the initial reveal and reaction. Doctor Mofuni was nowhere to be seen, and it took me a moment to realise this. I was about to start calling for him, fearing that maybe the flash of the fizzling cloak caused a brain aneurysm and fell over the side of the lorry, but I was soon able to spot him scrabbling about on the flatbed of the lorry we rode in on, heaving the valuable duffle bag containing all of the wafting plates up unto the side guard.
"Come on now, chaps! Start slapping these puppies on! I'm physically unable to contain my excitement at the chance of prodding this thing! Please help me! I beg of you!"