Dabiktria turned to head back to Cannonville, back to the bunker. As she did so, the vehicles once again seemed frozen – as did the people on the streets, the cork that had just been ejected from a bottle that someone was holding, and a spherical object that one person in the nearby grassy area had thrown to another. Even the sounds around her had settled back to a constant tone. Once again, she had several hours to make the trip back to the bunker – and when she’d get there, all the clocks would show that, at most, seconds had passed since the present moment.

On and on she went on the road – passing the vehicles by with ease until she came upon a small, yellow vehicle that seemed to be made of round shapes and decided to try something she hadn’t thought of before. Rather than evade the vehicle, she gently climbed upon it, and found that with a slight push of her feet on the road before reaching the vehicle, she was able to do this without too noticeably jolting it.

On top of this yellow vehicle, she beheld the brown colored vehicle in front of it. It was larger than the one she was presently traveling over, but not by much. It was clearly a cargo vehicle. It was a fairly small one, but its status as a cargo vehicle was unmistakable, as its cargo bay had an open top. She could see what it was carrying – planks of wood, blocks of what looked like concrete, and an assortment of other items she didn’t recognize. All of this had apparently been thrown haphazardly into the cargo bay.

Dabiktria leaped from the yellow vehicle she was on to the brown cargo vehicle, aiming carefully for the edge of the cargo bay. Though keeping her balance would be a little more difficult, she preferred to travel this way rather than over the haphazard pile of whatever lay inside. From the edge of the cargo bay, she made it onto the roof of the vehicle’s cabin section. From there, she leaped onto the next vehicle, and the vehicle after that, and the one after that.

On and on she traveled – part of the way with her feet directly on the road, but much of the way leaping from vehicle to vehicle. Finally, she turned off the road into a parking area and stopped. She focused on the special cybernetic link in her head – the special kind that wouldn’t kill her – and through it initiated a conversation with Raphael.

“I don’t know how far the effect goes on this planet,” she said, “but it goes much further than any place back home does.” She spoke to Raphael through her cybernetic link – so she didn’t need to move her mouth at all – and if someone had walked close enough, that person would not have heard any sound from her speech. But miles away, Raphael received her words – and he was the only one she was trying to reach with them.

“How far did you go?” was the response she got.

“I found the place called ‘downtown' in the city called ‘Darenton’” she answered, “with its tall buildings and grassy areas. Its appearance matched that of the area depicted in the pictures you showed me.”

“And you did not experience any slowing?” asked Raphael.

“I was slowed briefly,” she answered, “but not by any decrease in the phenomenon that allows me to move quickly. The only factor that slowed me was that the downtown had so many people that I could not travel at full speed without colliding into them. I solved this problem, though, by traveling on the road instead of on the sidewalk. The vehicles are easier to travel between than the pedestrians – and much of the time I was able to further reduce my obstacles by traveling on top of them.”

“Interesting,” commented Raphael. “Climbing on top of the vehicles did not slow you down more than simply evading them would have?”

“No, it did not,” answered Dabiktria. “My high velocity enabled me to glide from one vehicle to another with ease.”

“Very interesting,” replied Raphael. “If high velocity allows you to easily travel on top of vehicles, I wonder what else it can enable you to climb on top of. Buildings, perhaps?”

“Perhaps,” acknowledged Dabiktria, “but I do not believe that doing this will improve my traveling time.”

“Probably not,” agreed Raphael, “but there is more to the benefits of moving at high speeds than merely reducing one’s commute time.”

“Understood,” said Dabiktria. “I will attempt to reach the tops of the buildings.”

With that the conversation ended. Dabiktra looked around. She was no longer in the downtown area but was in a nearby neighborhood. There were still a good number of people here, but they seemed to be generally of a much younger age group. Had she known more about Darenton, she would have known that this was because this area was very close to the university. From her perspective, the most important difference was that the buildings were not as tall – making this the perfect setting for her to make her first attempt to reach the rooftops.

She looked around – excited. If she could do what Raphael had just suggested, this could be her chance to prove that she was valuable – valuable enough that Raphael would expend whatever resources he needed to in order to assure that she wouldn’t have to spend so much time in the cryogenic chamber.