"We leave at dawn and head out overland by jeep towards Base One. We will get as far as we can before proceeding on foot," Mark explained. The others sat and listened. Sarah, particularly, as a "casualty of events", wouldn't have known what to say or suggest even if she'd been asked. But Harry had a lot to say. "We'll never make it," he protested . "We'll still be crossing the desert when they catch up with us. They'll know where we're heading for and they seem to know every move we make or are going to make." Mark said nothing, but spread his hands out as if to say "Well, what do we do then?" "We wouldn't be in this mess now," Harry went on, almost ignoring Mark's gesture, "if we hadn't stopped to rescue Sarah."( He glanced at her briefly.) "But since we did, we must get on--but not across the desert. There is the sand, and deep ravines   which are almost invisible until you're right on them and then the heat. You have to be used to going out there, and none of us is. This is no 'morning at leisure' on some pleasant holiday, you know! If we went north instead and made for the river,..." He broke off and looked around at the others, feeling somehow that his argument was pointless. No one said anything. "Good," said Mark, look around with authority, and returned to checking their stores. A beautiful sunrise was about to burst over the horizon as the jeep headed out towards Base One. What can we know about the group of people?
They were being trained. They were doing research. They were on holiday. They were being hunted.