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.Some of the patched land was being cultivated, but much of it lay empty.We passed an airport on the right, surprising me.Air travel was supposed to be prohibited within the Archipelago, the airspace regulated by the Covenant of Neutrality.But to judge by the pylons of electronic sensors, and the ground-radar dishes, Muriseay Airport was as modern as any equivalent in the north.Approaching the terminal buildings I saw several large aircraft parked in the distance, but they were too far away for me to distinguish the markings.“Is this a passenger airport?” I said quietly to Seri.“No, purely military.Muriseay receives most of the troops from the north, but there are no camps here.The men are taken straight to ships, on the southern coast.”Some friends of mine in Jethra were associated with a civil rights group, concerned with monitoring the Covenant.According to them, many of the larger islands were the sites of military transit- and rest-camps.These were not strictly in breach of the Covenant, but represented one of its odder aspects.Such camps were used by both sides, and sometimes by both armies at once.However, I had seen no sign of them, and guessed they must be situated a long way from the roads or regular shipping lanes.The bus halted outside the airport, and most of the passengers climbed out, clutching their bundles and parcels.Seri said they would be the civilian staff: caterers, cleaners, and so on.Soon after we set off again, the well-paved road we had been following gave out, and became a dusty, pot-holed track instead.From here, the rest of the journey was marked by the constant lurching of the bus, the roaring of the engine in low gear and occasional bangs from the suspension.And dust: the tyres threw up clouds of dust and grit which flew in the open windows, griming our clothes, marking the tiny lines of the face and gritting between the teeth.Seri became talkative, and as the track rose into the foothills and the countryside became greener, she told me about some of the islands she had visited and things she had seen.I discovered a few more facts about her: she had worked on ships for some time, she had learned how to weave, she had been married for a brief period.Now that we were in rising agricultural country, the bus made frequent stops to take on or let off passengers.At each of these stops people clustered around the bus, offering things for sale.Seri and l, marked out by our clothes, were the obvious focus of attention.Sometimes we bought fruit, and once we were served lukewarm black coffee from a chipped enamel bucket; by then I was so thirsty from the heat and dust that I easily overcame fastidiousness and drank from the one cup shared by everyone.A few minutes later the bus broke down.The driver investigated, and steam burst forth from the radiator.Seri was smiling.“I take it this always happens?” I said.“Yes, but not as soon as this.It normally boils when we start climbing.”After loud discussion with the passengers at the front, the driver set off back down the road towards the last village, accompanied by two of the men.Unexpectedly, Seri slipped her hand into mine and leaned against me slightly.She squeezed my fingers.“How much further are we going?” I said.“We’re nearly there.The next village.”“Couldn’t we walk? I’d like to stretch my legs.”“Let’s wait.He’s only gone to get water.It doesn’t look steep, but it’s uphill all the way.”She closed her eyes, resting her head on my shoulder.I stared ahead, looking at the bulk of the mountains now rising directly before us.Although we had climbed a long way since leaving the town, the air was still warm and there was hardly any wind.Vineyards stretched on either side of the road.I could see tall cypresses in the distance, black against the sky.Seri dozed for a while, but I was getting stiff so I roused her.I climbed down from the bus and walked a distance up the road, relishing the exercise and the sunshine.It was not as humid here, the air smelt different.I walked as far as the crest of the rise the bus had been climbing when it broke down, and here I stopped and looked back.The plain stretched out before me, wavering in the thermals, a fusion of greys and greens and ochrous yellows.In the distance, on the horizon, was the sea, but there was a haze and I could not see any other islands
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