Chapter 66
They did some light trading with Luna's people, mostly skins for fish, but it was a start. The dissidents - 24 of them - were loaded aboard Luna's ship and sent off to Bermuda. With them gone the rest of the Arkers buckled down and began to work with the hundred. Slowly they were learning from kids and realising that the kids didn't act superior to them, which was their fear. Instead the hundred were patient with the adults, teaching them how to do things and what to look out for. If an adult needed to be told more than once, it was done gently and reinforced with smiles and encouragement. The Arkers were becoming more comfortable with life on the ground and began to enjoy things like clean water, sunshine and the space to move which was larger than three paces wide. The child Arkers were even quicker to learn and loved the freedom to run around and play. They were slowly becoming Skaikru.
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Four days later, Adara, Monty, Murphy, Raven and Octavia went to the bunker. Adara had left Atom in charge with Kane as his second. She had left Kane in charge twice now, and twice he had let her down. Atom would keep order and teach Kane that being on the council didn't mean anything down here. Deeds were needed instead of mob rule and dictatorships. Sometimes talking didn't work and a more drastic option was needed. Murphy had tasked Miller with making sure that Atom was obeyed. A small jail had been built and Miller knew that if he needed to use it, he would.
At the bunker, she met Clarke and the Commander above ground. Their horses were taken to the makeshift stables they had used for the Trikru horses. They went down and into the command centre.
"Monty, pull up the exterior cameras around this bunker and keep an eye on them, please." Monty sat down and started his task. Raven and Murphy pulled chairs into the room so everyone had somewhere to sit.
"Okay, Clarke, Commander, I asked the others to write down their experiences, thoughts, feelings, plans and anything else they could think of regarding ALIE. We need to know what we are up against and what we could do to stop her."
"Do you need mine?" asked Clarke.
"Do you have any? I thought you were in Polis when it all went down in Arkadia?"
"I was, but I was the one that fought ALIE in the city of light. I was the one who shut her down with Lexa's help."
"Err… didn't you die before that happened?" asked Adara.
"Yes, but the flame gave her a representation of me to help her," the Commander said, clearly uncomfortable with her death.
"Adara!" said Clarke.
"It's alright, hodness, she needs to know these things." Clarke looked at Adara.
"Can't you remember it?"
"I was dead at that time, Clarke. I died with Lincoln a few days before the Commander."
"Ohh," Clarke said. "I forgot that."
"It's no problem, Clarke, I just want to know what happened with her. Do we need to do anything to stop her, or is the fact that Jaha came down with the stations and not in a missile enough?"
"What do you mean?" asked Murphy, leaning forward.
"Well, from what you've written, ALIE used the missile Jaha came down in, to set off the nuclear reactors. She hasn't got that now, so how would she implement her plans?" They all looked at each other.
"We don't know," said Raven.
"Hmm. Murphy, any idea what her plans were before Jaha came down? I know she wanted those chips scattered around everyone. How would she do that?" Murphy thought about it.
"Emori and her brother," he said after a while. "Last time, Otan - Emori's brother - was chipped and he was trying to get Emori to take one. He had the case containing the chips that Jaha took to Arkadia. Emori tried to stop him. In the end Shawn Gillmer killed him."
"So if we stop him, would there be anyone else who could take over and chip people?"
"I don't think so, I never went into the house the first time so I don't know if anyone else was there. Jaha never mentioned anyone else."
"Where did you meet them? Was it on the island?"
"No, well yes, but they were on the boat taking us back to the mainland. I never really got to know them until then."
"Would you be able to find them now?"
"Possibly," Murphy said, pulling on his pursed lips.
"I won't send you yet, but I may send you in the future. You okay with that?"
"If I can get Emori away from him and safe, then yes, I'll go."
"Good." Adara leaned back. "I want Clarke to read your accounts of ALIE if that's okay with you?" They all nodded. Adara nodded back and left to get the papers. Once she was back, she gave them to Clarke and showed her and the Commander to one of the lounges to read in comfort. "These don't leave the bunker, Clarke, got it?"
"Got it," said Clarke, nodding her agreement. Adara left them to it and went back to the command centre.
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"Monty, can you access the Ark records from here?"
"I don't know," said Monty, looking thoughtful.
"Can you try?" Monty nodded and got to work.
"Why do you want to access the Ark records?" asked Octavia.
"I want to find out if you are the only one put in lockup when you're innocent. Some of the things Shumway said, made me realise that there could be more kids in lockup for no reason. I want to make sure that anyone who did that is dealt with. I don't want anyone down here thinking they can carry on fitting people up to get them either imprisoned or executed." The others looked at each other, all thinking that they wished they had thought of that.
"Anything else?" asked Raven.
"I remember when I was in lockup, I collapsed. I think some more - talents - were coming to the fore. I remember after I healed my ribs that I could remember where there were some bunkers scattered around clan lands. I have no idea how I know they are there, but I do. I want to see if I can figure out where they are and plot them on a map and then go and find them. These bunkers in my head are made to withstand nuclear war and could house up to 2000 people for ten years. They contained power generators, water reclamation plants, hydroponics, store rooms, kitchens, dormitories, offices and other stuff. If I can find them, then I think they can be assigned to a clan and if the worst happens, then at least some people could survive." They were astonished.
"How many?" asked Octavia, thinking of the conclave she won last time.
"I don't know, but at least twenty. Not all the bunkers are the same size, some of them only hold about 700, but they are still able to survive a nuclear war."
"Twenty!" Octavia shouted.
"Even with 700 in all of them, that's 14,000 people!" Raven said, awed by the thought.
Raven fired up another computer and pulled up a map of the eastern part of the old US. She then turned her chair sideways.
"Show me." Adara went to the computer and tried to place the bunkers. She didn't pick the Second Dawn bunker because that location was already known.
"I think one is around here," Adara said pointing to the old state of Georgia and particularly Atlanta.
"Is it in the city or outside?"
"Outside... to the north... in some woods. Yeah, I know, there's trees everywhere now, but that's the location I see in my mind." Raven checked the area and saw some woods about 6 miles north of Atlanta. This was a heavily populated area, though. She did see a golf course there too.
"Are you sure it's in some woods?"
"That's what I see. Lots of trees and some houses."
"Well there's a golf course there. We could go and check it out."
"We'll ask the Commander. O, do you know where the clans are located?"
"Some of them, but the Commander would know better. You should wait for her."
"Okay. If we can find them, then I think we should train some of the clans to deal with the mechanics and engineering they'll need to maintain them throughout another nuclear meltdown."
"Good idea, and with Jake and Wick down here, I'll have help." said Raven.
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Up on the spaceship Ophelia, the Captain and Colonel watched as Adara and the rest were deciding what to do next about ALIE and the bunkers.
"She's forgetting about us, Sir," said the Colonel.
"Well we know it does happen, Colonel. If she forgets about us, the rule is we leave them where they are."
"I know, but she was such a promising cadet, Sir. I don't like to leave this one behind."
"She seems… happy, for the want of a better word, Colonel. She's taken to the leadership of not just the hundred but to the entire clan. I think this world is what she needs. Up here, can you really say she would have been given the opportunity to shine like she had down there?"
"No, Sir. We'd just put her where we thought would be the best fit for her based on her performance on board." The Colonel sounded unhappy. "We keep forgetting that sometimes a person can do more than we look for. Adara is an example of that."
"We watched her grow into this role, Colonel. We watched as a cadet did something we didn't know she could do. She organised five other people into a subversive, secret group and then we watched as she did the same in a prison - a prison, Colonel! Then when she went down, she had them all organised within the space of twenty minutes and got them all moving away from the mountain. She negotiated with Tondc and with the Commander and she abided by the rules they set. She has acted with honour, integrity and with serenity through it all. What an asset she would have been to us!"
"I know that, Sir, I just wish there was some way we could help her now. Once this threat with ALIE is dealt with, her job is done. Humanity on this Earth will have been saved. What do we do then, Sir?"
"The same as the other agents who have forgotten us - we wake them up and ask them if they want to return to life aboard a spaceship."
"Not one single person has done that, though, Sir. I don't think Adara would either." The Colonel sighed. "Sir, she's still technically a cadet and therefore still under our care. What if her parents want her back?"
"It's up to Adara now, Colonel. She may TECHNICALLY be our charge, but she has proven herself down there. She has learned more about ruling and governing while on assignment than anything we could have taught her. She has surpassed her training and if we take her back, she would be at the very least a candidate for a position as leader on one of the exploration teams on the ground."
"Will she want it, thought?"
"Doubt it. Look at her, Colonel, she's a good leader, has a good support team around her who are also her friends, she has taught all of the hundred that they are more than their parents' kids, she has given those kids a sense of purpose, a sense of worth and those same kids are doing jobs no-one likes with dignity. Those kids hold their heads up because Adara showed them how. She trusted them from the start, she talked to them like they were worth talking to and with respect. She taught those kids things the people on the Ark should have taught them. The Ark taught them to respect their elders but they forgot to teach them to respect themselves. Adara did that. Adara is still doing that - to the Arkers as well. She is the right leader for them and no-one really minds that she's just about to turn 18. No, Colonel, she is where she WANTS to be, as well as where she NEEDS to be."
The Colonel turned back around to the screen and watched the most promising cadet she had ever laid eyes on, be the leader she was destined to be.