Once inside they kept busy enough to relieve the tedium as minutes fell away with the slope. There was little talk aside from brief, clipped questions, answers, and instructions among civilians and soldiers alike—most revolving around the limited care they could provide. The passing landscape evolved from hills to mountains, dense forest dwindled to clumps and stands, sunlight thinned with the haze that gave the range its name. Then, finally, the tilt leveled out as they reached the summit.