his own, stolen pack. He and Hana didn't have much room to point fingers, although they'd taken only what they needed.
Barre had a big pile of items at his feet, and it looked like he was being discerning about what he was taking.
Still, if he didn't leave soon, Iver wouldn't be able to stow away inside the back again.
Time to hurry him along.
Iver crouched behind one of the boulders and found a stone that fitted in his hand. He aimed at another boulder near where Hana and the driver would be coming out and threw the stone as hard as he could toward it.
The loud crack of rock on rock had Barre freezing in place. He closed the doors quietly and then gathered up what he had.
As he moved away, heading toward the bushes and rocks on the other side of the valley, a few items dropped and Iver could hear him swear as he bent to pick them up.
He didn't wait for Barre to get out of sight.
He didn't have time for that.
He ran to the lander, slid inside again, and moved right to the back, to the little nook he and Hana had hidden in before.
It was only a few minutes later that he heard a low conversation between Hana and the driver. The vehicle creaked as Hana got in the passenger seat, and he relaxed a little when the tone between her and the driver seemed calm and non-confrontational.
It took longer than he thought it would to get going, but then he remembered there were still rocks rolled in the way.
The driver must be moving them himself.
It gave him time to change out of his clothes and pull on the items he'd taken earlier from the crates. He'd added them to his pack as a clean set of clothes to change into, but if he was going to get out of this lander without being noticed and rescue Hana, it would help to look like everyone else in the camp.
Depending on how many were at the camp, of course.
If there were only a few, then he would stand out, no matter what he was wearing.
As he pulled them on, he noticed the clothing belonged to the Faldine security services.
Someone was stealing uniforms, or misappropriating them.
Iver tamped down a flare of anger at the thought.
This was his planet, damn it, and someone was corrupting it.
It would be his pleasure to get to the bottom of it.
He'd just finished getting his boots back on when the lander started to move, slowly at first and then gaining speed.
Suddenly, the driver slammed on brakes. The lander slid a little to the side, came to a stop and then rocked as the driver threw himself out of his seat. Iver could hear his stamping footsteps as he came around to the back.
He was sure he hadn't given himself away.
He would have to trust this was something else.
The doors opened, flooding even Iver's hiding place with light.
“Shit.” The driver must have seen immediate signs of Barre's theft. “Shit.” It sounded as if he was kicking the rear tires.
He didn't step inside the back of the lander. Instead, he slammed the doors with another curse, and Iver leaned back in relief as he heard him storm back to the front.
They moved off again, a jerky hop of a start that told Iver the driver still wasn't in full control of his temper. They gained more and more speed as they went, and then the whole vehicle tipped forward, as if flying down a steep hill.
The hard right when they reached the bottom caught Iver by surprise, straining the straps holding the crates in place, dislodging everything that wasn't tied down.
Evasive maneuvers?
They drove on, the ground much smoother than before, and at least ten minutes passed before they slowed to a stop.
Iver lifted his restocked pack and stood in the far corner, out of sight, with a bulky but light box he'd chosen to blend in as someone unloading the supplies.
He heard a shout and then the low murmur of conversation, before the vehicle started moving again, much slower this time.
It rolled up a ramp and down the other side, then drove for longer than he was expecting, which told him the entry to the camp was a good distance from the camp itself.
Eventually the lander rocked to a stop, and he heard the driver's door open and then slam shut.
There was a conversation just beyond his ability to hear clearly, and then the passenger