He found the oasis by memory.
Not far — half a kilometer northeast of the basement exit, tucked between two low dune ridges where the desert folded in on itself and kept a secret. A natural pool, fed by some underground source that nobody had ever mapped correctly, ringed by smooth flat stones and a handful of low, salt-bleached palms that threw thin shadows across the water's surface in the moonlight.
The water was black and silver under the night sky.
Still. Perfectly still, the surface like a sheet of dark glass that reflected the fat moon in one clean, unbroken circle at its center.
He walked toward it with Nano's leash in his hand.
She stumbled behind him.
