They couldn't get the door open. Too much sand against it. In the end, she offered to squeeze out through the small window in the cockpit. It had been removed deliberately, all the rivets unscrewed.
She eased herself through headfirst, like a baby emerging from the birth canal, and the heat outside took her breath away.
"Careful, the sand is burning hot."
She wore little ankle boots, thank goodness, not her usual sandals, since she was traveling on business. A survey of the door showed only about a foot of sand piled against it, and she quickly kicked it away with her feet so Zadir could open the door from the inside. He filled the doorway as he emerged, squinting into the sun. "I think we should walk to the highest point and see if we can see anything at all. A city, an oil installation, a Bedouin caravan."
"The highest point is probably the top of that dune over there." It wasn't far, and it was a good hundred feet up in the air and looked like an intimidating climb.
"Though I didn't see anything from the plane."
"Me either, but I was hyper focused on landing. We'll go slow and conserve energy. No sense sweating out all our water." They headed out across the burning sands. Unfortunately, it was the thick, deep type of sand, like a beach, and made for slow going. They climbed laboriously to the razor-edged peak of the highest dune, sliding backward and clawing their way in the burning sand until they straddled the top and looked around at the breathtaking view of…