Isaac and Taylor looked at each other and then followed him over the sand dunes. The fortified oasis was quite a distance behind them when they came to a small encampment. Taylor wiped sweat from his forehead.
*How does she do this?* he asked. *We don’t normally react like this in the different environments we create.*
*Well, me and Carla have been playing these for over ten years now. It’s just the kind of thing we’ve learnt to do.*
*Ah ha! Cacti!* Isaac said triumphantly. *There’s water in cacti.*
*But how can we really out do these guys?* asked Taylor. *I mean… who does global warming? That’s just… stupid.*
*You only say it’s stupid because you didn’t think of it,* Nate pointed out.
*Shh!*
*Well, how do we combat global warming?* Isaac asked, then a smile crossed his face. *Or better yet, let’s not combat it. Let’s use it to our advantage.*
*And how do you suppose we do that?* asked Nate.
*Well, it’s making the world hotter isn’t it? It just turned the zoo into a desert.*
*I noticed that. And the girls have all the water.*
*Not for very long,* Isaac said smugly. *C’mon, we have to get to higher ground.*
*Why?* asked Taylor.
*You’ll see,* was all Isaac would reply.
So, after taking water from the cacti (this didn’t take very long, as none of them had done it before, and, since all of this is in their heads, it happened easily), they started walking again, towards the mountains that had suddenly appeared.
Meanwhile, the girls were contemplating their next attack.
*They may not survive the desert, but I wouldn’t put it by Isaac and Taylor to think of something,* Carla was saying. *The question is, what?*
* I have no idea.*
*You’ve played against them more than I, have you any idea how their minds might work?*
*If I did, maybe I would have beaten them a few times,* Rachel paused. *Well, I have kicked Taylor’s butt. Isaac’s the problem. Well, he’s a problem for me – I know that Taylor’s beaten him.*
*Hmm,* Carla thought for a moment. *Well, nothing is coming to me, so I think we’re going to start a business.*
*What?*
*Yes, we’re going into the water trade. We have all the water, let’s start trading. We’ll make a mint.*
And so the two girls started selling water to the people of the desert. It was during these trades that they learnt the terrible news.
*A beach?* Carla asked to desert man. *How can there possibly be a beach in the desert?*
*I don’t know,* Rachel answered with confirmation, looking through a telescope, *but it’s coming this way.*
*How can it come this way?*
*See for yourself.*
Carla took it and looked. Sure enough, water was heading in their direction. A whole flood of it.
*We need a ship.*
Rachel nodded.
*You, gather up as many people as you can,* Carla said to the desert man. *We’re becoming sailors.*