Madi and Harper looked up and saw the space ship vanish from their sight.

They looked at each other with a panicked expression. Near them, Clarke and Bellamy lay resting and the security guard was still unconscious and bound.

Harper didn't want to let up to this ten year old that she was concerned, but Madi spoke up, unafraid. Ten years old and far too wise.

"Hopefully they didn't get re-taken prisoner. Good thing you and Hannah weren't with them."

"I suspect they just didn't have time to wait for us. Come on, let's get the radio to see if we can find out whats going on."

They hauled out the radio, where their concerns were eased upon hearing Monty and Raven advising each other about landing spaces and mining equipment.

"Monty I can re-modulate the mining equipment but am concerned about the blast. The equipment is meant to blast through rock, not to protect whats on the other side."

"Have you thought about adjusting its frequency to focus on a type of rock and stop short of steel?"

"No, let me see if thats something we can do - do you think we could capture the reverse triangulator to..."

Harper always marveled at their conversations. She didn't understand how Murphy and Raven's brains worked but it was always amazing to watch them work on the same task with a singular focus.

Suddenly, she heard moans, and turned to see Clarke getting up.

"Clarke! I need to remove the..."

"Already done Harper. I've patched myself up too. Whats wrong with Bellamy? Why isn't he awake?"

Clarke's eyes were full of concern. She didn't hide her feelings as well as she used to, Harper noticed.

"I have some theories, Clarke..."

"Does your theory include the reason for all his fainting?"

"Yes... it does. I think he has swelling, damage, or possibly a tumour in his frontal lobe."

Clarke's eyes widened, then she looked at Bellamy with the type of tenderness Harper didn't think she had ever seen in Clarke. Six years really did change her. Clarke went to Bellamy and stroked the side of his quiet face.

"We need to get to my mom."

"I know. That's what we are trying to do right now. Two birds one stone, right?"

Clarke nodded, but not so much at Harper. She was sitting next to Bellamy now, his hands cradling his face and softly stroking it. Harper and Madi looked at each other, their eyes locked in understanding.

Madi walked over to Clarke. "He'll wake up. He will be fine. You didn't both survive and wait six years to lose each other now."

Clarke wiped away a tear. "Oh my little natblida, you know me too well."

Without wasting another minute, Clarke stood at attention to Harper. "What is the plan then? How can we help?"

Harper nodded, realizing Clarke had moved on to business. This was the old Clarke.

"It worked out well, at least from what we can gather of their radio communications. all alive and accounted for. They used the guards outfit on Alloy, who took them as prisoners back to the ship. Once there, they split up to go to security as well as the control room on the ship to launch it. Originally, they were going to come pick us up, but they have headed in the direction of Polis. I am not sure why, but regardless, we should see if we can get there ourselves. We don't want to delay Bellamy's treatment unnecessarily."

Clarke nodded approvingly.

"Alloy seems like a good guy. What do we know about him?"

"Virtually nothing, other than for some reason he hated the people on the ship more than anybody. I think he had some family that he lost, on Earth... back from when he left Earth, anyways. He was kept in deep sleep with Murphy for a long time and we only heard of him on the ship. I did have to monitor them on deep sleep as I was the de facto nurse, and I took the opportunity to review his file, of course... he was imprisoned for treason."

"Treason?!" That got Clarke's attention.

"Yes, treason. Apparently he was a senior government worker at some point, who discovered that the government was keeping the risk of AI quiet. When he discovered what it could do, he tried to alert the newspapers... unfortunately, there was no "free press" and he was found out, tried in secret, and sentenced to death. They decided to keep him for the Elgius Corporation project because of his high intelligence."

"Sounds a lot like the Ark, doesn't it. Unbelievable. He didn't sound very intelligent to me."

"He actually has a mild speech impediment as a result of being tongue tied when he was younger. Based on his records, he could have worked alongside Raven with his background in Physics and Aeronautics. I think the other prisoners would have seen him as a threat, so knowing that he probably played it up a bit when it was just his accent and speech impediment."

"Does anybody else know this?"

"I don't think so. I probably mentioned it to Monty, but we weren't allowed a lot of contact with the others without supervision... for obvious reasons."

"No doubt."

With that, they heard a small moan from Bellamy.

"We need to get him in the Rover and get going to Polis. It's a full day drive and he isn't in great shape."

"Neither are you."

"Exactly. We need to get Bellamy in the Rover along with food and supplies for when they open the bunker. Madi and I have a few food stashes prepared for this occasion, although we can't carry enough to feed everybody we will hit one of our supplies that on the way and load up as much as possible."

"What do we do with him?" Harper pointed towards the still unconscious guard.

"Tie him up to a tree. We don't need the dead weight at this point."

Suddenly, they heard a crunch on the forest floor behind them. Madi, Harper, and Clarke whipped around to see Alloy standing there.

"Great to see you Alloy. Can you help me lift Bellamy into the Rover? Clarke is not physically up for it at this point."

Alloy grunted his agreement and proceeded to assist Harper lifting Bellamy.

"Madi, help pack up camp. I'll make sure the ropes on this guy are nice and tight but just in case... let's leave him a nice glass of water and container of gobi nuts to ensure he doesn't really go anywhere at all."

It took nearly an hour, but once everything was done and the Rover was filled with dried meat and preserves as well as Bellamy's limp body, Clarke looked at Harper. "Can you, Madi and Hannah sit in the back? You should watch Bellamy, and it will be faster for me to drive to Polis. Alloy can sit with me in the front.

Madi smiled, excited for the adventure and to spend some time with Harper who was, as she knew from Clarke's stories, a badass warrier.

Alloy nodded again in agreement.

"Alright, let's head to Polis... or whats left of it."