The outpost itself was modest, a cluster of low-slung buildings dug into opposite sides of a narrow, mostly dry canyon. A feeble tendril of smoke wafted from one of the buildings, and Sparr thought he saw a figure walking toward the shore, but there was little other activity.
He had no business at the place. Miah had sent him from the hunting camp loaded with food, and there seemed little other reason to visit. If anything, the arrival of a solo traveler might cause a disturbance. And the air car, if spotted, would be problematic.
But if the outpost was of limited interest, its setting was not. The canyon must at one point have been gouged out by a glacier, then left dry as the ice retreated. Only a trickle of water now flowed. Farther up the canyon widened substantially, but instead of
