 From the studios of Books in Motion, this is Cameron Byerley reading, Outback by Aaron Fletcher. We begin with part one, Liamba Station. The sandy soil was dry, burning hot to the touch where the sun reached it, between the towering clumps of spine effects, a gnarled sun-blasted scrub acacia. It was rippled in patterns from winds which had penetrated the foliage, and strewn with small pebbles a mottled surface of dun and brown which faded into a featureless blur in the blinding sunlight, and into deep dark shadows in the shade. But Mayra's eyes were fixed on the virtually invisible trail across it. She was frozen into immobility, and standing on one foot, her other foot poised inches above the ground in the step which had been arrested when her keen eyes detected the minute traces left by the passage of another creature. The tough, thick soles of her bare feet insulated them against the fiery heat of the ground, and she was unconscious of the glaring sun beaming down on her naked body, except for a gentle, insistent, instinctive voice which spoke in the back of her mind, reminding her that direct sunlight during the heat of the day should be avoided when possible. Her eyes moved along the ground. The trail was that of the ubun, the blue-tongued lizard, and it had been made only seconds before because tiny grains of soil were still slipping down into the shadow depression. It ended at the base of a thick clump of the silvery, spiny spine effects whose blades rose above her head all around her. She slowly lowered her foot to the ground and took a soundless step to one side, the long heavy stick in her right hand poised to throw, her right elbow pressing against the woven grass bag hanging from her shoulder to keep it from swinging, and her neck straight to balance the weary, the small bark vessel of water she carried on top of her head. There was no trail on the other side of the spine effects, the ubun was still in it. She crouched slightly and her eyes narrowed to peer more closely into the shade under the blades of the spine effects, and she began stalking, a whisper of sound carried through the grass from the distance of a spear cast ahead of her, barely audible over the rustle of the light hot breeze through the spine effects, and she reacted instantly. It was made by her father, almost but not quite a whistle, and it was interrupted twice by his lips closing and opening again, the warning of danger. All thoughts of the lizard left her mind and she dropped into a low crouch lifting the bag and stick so they would not make a noise against the ground and still balancing the weary and its precious mouthfuls of water on her head. Then she was completely motionless again except for her eyes darting around and her nostrils flaring and testing the air for a scent of the source of danger. A soft click came from a distance on her right. It was her mother wanting to pinpoint the location of her children, and she was risking being punished by doing so because the warning of danger included an implicit command for absolute silence. Off to her left and slightly in front of her there was another click, her brother. Then there was silence again. The man's hoot and the wooden clatter of the spear shaking in his hand were muffled by distance, but she was so tense that she almost jumped at the sound. It was a sign of peaceful intentions, the loud and demonstrative announcement of a solitary man acknowledging trespass on the hunting territory of another, and she turned her head slightly to caulk her ear as her father hooted and rattled his spears in reply. The man shouted louder, identifying himself as a puntero and in gala of the Arunta. The Arunta was the tribe of her family, but from the way the man formed his words he was from a long distance away. Mera's father identified himself as voice fading as he moved toward the man. Their deep voices were a barely audible murmur as they talked. The minute slowly dragged by, the muscles in her thighs began aching and her neck became cramped from keeping the weary balanced on top of her head while in the crouched position, but she remained unmoving because she had not been released from the command for absolute silence. The grief was fraught with danger. A gauntlet of hazard. Sample complete. Ready to continue?