With a start he broke free of that thought, and jumped for the cab.  He scrabbled up its side.  His trance chip hissing, rattling and crackling, he yanked the magnetic straps holding Siegfried in place, grabbed the spool and control pad, and jumped over the edge.

He landed jarringly, fell to his knees, and rolled under the trailer.  There was enough shielding wrapped around the fuel rods to stop any amount of hard radiation--no matter what its source.  It would shelter him as well from the sun as from his cargo.  The trance chip fell silent, and he felt his jaws relaxing from a clenched tension.

Safe.

It was dark beneath the trailer, and he had time to think.  Even kicking his rebreather up to full, and offlining all his suit peripherals, he didn't have enough oxygen to sit out the storm.  So okay.  He had to get to a shelter.  Weisskopf was closest, only fifteen kilometers away and there was a shelter in the G5 assembly plant there.  That would be his goal.

Working by feel, he found the steel supporting struts, and used Siegfried's magnetic straps to attach himself to the underside of the trailer.  It was clumsy, difficult work, but at last he hung face-down over the road.  He fingered the walker's controls, and sat Siegfried up.

Twelve excruciating minutes later, he finally managed to get Siegfried down from the roof unbroken.  The interior wasn't intended to hold anything half so big.  To get the walker in he had first to cut the door free, and  then rip the chair out of the cab.  Discarding both items by the roadside, he squeezed Siegfried in.  The walker bent over double, reconfigured, reconfigured again, and finally managed to fit itself into the space.  Gently, delicately, Siegfried took the controls and shifted into first.