He slowed the engine to listen more closely, but heard nothing out of the ordinary. “Be careful,” Melina said almost whimpering. She was our crazy, silly sister.”
“How could that happen?”
“We don’t know. A lot of energy can turn into a little bit of matter. They were called Fata Morgana, but, as far as he knew, they referred to images, not voices. He was sure he’d shot it down, but he didn’t have time to watch it fall to the ground, for the second plane got into a favorable position and strafed it briefly in passing, then cleared over it to the south. After a while he heard Melina’s voice but she sounded more tired than usual. There was no gasoline left in the tank, so there was no risk of fire, so after the plane came to a stop, he sighed for a long time and looked around: The Sahara, as he’d seen it perhaps a hundred times from the air, was now all around him ready to swallow him unless he moved fast. Nothing, not even an ordinary bush to rest his head against, he found, so he nestled down in the warm sand trying to fall asleep.
