Day Seven Hundred Twenty One #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

The Captain went out hopeful but returned disappointed. Tomas had found a downed satellite, from which the Captain wanted to recovery some batteries, but it was too smashed up. Overall, it was little more than the ‘smudge’ it appeared to be from the distance.

Still, Tomas brought back some broken components and he was rewarded this morning when he finally cracked open the casings revealing many parts fashioned from gold.

We allowed him the time to extract the precious metals, but denied his request to return to the site for more.

We pressed on towards another mountain range bordering the northern edge of this desert.

And crossed a wide swath that must have been the track of the massive army.

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Day Seven Hundred Twenty #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Tomas made a couple of jaunts to our rear to head off any surprises from that quarter. Satisfied he changed his focus to the direction ahead.

In between two such forays Elijah collared him, whispered some instructions and sent him on his way.

I guessed that the thrust of their exchange had to do with the smudge that was then open to our view off to the right of our track.

I know I was curious about it.

It was quite some time before Tomas returned from his exploratory errand.

And I was correct Elijah had indeed dispatched him to discover what lay behind that ‘smudge.’

Tomas was excited. He wanted the Captain to return with him for a look.

Day Six Hundred Twenty One #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

We saw a column of dust rising at the far end of the plain across the river from us. The army had to be marching somewhere below that smudge splitting the blue of the sky.

We discovered the point at which they must have crossed yesterday, where their trail disappeared at the water’s edge. I surmised they must have had boats or pontoon bridges.

It was much too deep for us there.

I knew from my time reconnoitering that a better place lay around the bend.

We found a derelict boat upon which the Captain and Tomas made repairs and we crossed without getting our feet wet.

Elijah wants to overtake the army, but none of us will ask why.