Chapter 35
The next morning, Adara went to the Commander's tent with Clarke. They entered when Gustus had gotten permission to enter. The girls entered and sat when the Commander bade them.
"What can I do for you?" the Commander asked.
"We've been thinking about what we need to do about everything. The mountain, Nia, Pike, ALIE, Jaha, Titus and the oncoming death wave. We've been thinking about what to do with the others in the sky if they do not follow me as their leader. We need to figure out where we fit into your clans, if at all." said Adara. "The problem is, that there is no land we can move to that isn't already taken. During the last life, Clarke has told me that she learned of the people just outside your clans. There is no land other than the mountain. Now, I don't want anyone living there after we take it down, but we have to find a place for us to live, Commander."
"True, but where do you suggest we put you? At the moment, you are safe here away from the maunon. If I gave you the land from last time, that puts you within range of the mountain."
"I know. I was wondering if there is any of your land that can be used to grow food and build a village for us, but far enough away so we don't bother you. We would have to learn how to work the land, how you work with nature, what's the best way of doing things, etc. I know that the hundred all just want to live. They are discovering that the air down here is clear as is the water. There are wide open spaces which they are getting used to instead of narrow corridors and small rooms of the Ark. We will work hard to make a home for ourselves if we are given the chance, Commander."
"Have you thought of where you want to live?" Adara shook her head.
"No, Commander, I haven't seen any maps apart from military ones. They give some villages and some terrain, but they don't really have the information we need."
"Which is?"
"Fertile land to grow crops, a nearby water source, hunting grounds with enough game to survive, is the terrain flat or hilly, rocky or soil? Does it flood or is it too dry for farming? These are just some of the questions that I thought of last night. There are more, but I haven't thought of them yet." The Commander looked thoughtful.
"You are thinking about your people. That is a good thing. You are right that you need a good place to live and not just exist. If we found a place for you, would you stay there, or would your people eventually decide just to take what they want from my people?"
"There are good and bad in every population, Commander. We've done our best to weed out the undesirable ones from this group. It's the ones on the Ark I worry about the most. The adults up there have had decades of being told that they are the last of humanity and that they are the best of the people left. They are set in their ways and when they come down, I know we will have trouble with them. I know I will at times have to rule with an iron rod. I know that, but I believe that when they finally realise that they cannot go back to the sky and live in a tin can, that they will make the best of what they've got. It's what we all have to do."
"Can you be sure of that?" the Commander asked.
"No, Commander. I can only say that I believe that. Most of those left up there are the workers. The ones who work hard and get little in return for that. Down here, I believe that they will work. There is no money on the Ark. There is no money here in the clans. The only thing they can do down here is work. Oh, some of them will try to accumulate goods to try and prove something to themselves or their friends, but these people basically only own the clothes on their backs. Everything they own would probably fit into one of our backpacks, Commander. There is very little up there anymore." Clarke spoke up in the silence that followed.
"We are under no illusion that everything will be fine or that everyone will cooperate. We just need a chance to weed out those who don't want to work for the community or for a better future, Lexa."
"What would you do with those who won't follow you?" the Commander asked. Clarke and Adara looked at each other. Clarke shrugged that she had no idea what to do with them. Adara turned to the Commander.
"I was thinking of the maps I'd seen on the Ark of this part of the world. Off the coast of America - as this land was known - is a group of islands known as the Carribean. The island furthest north is called Bermuda. It's not very big, but I think it would be big enough for the troublemakers to live on. They could live on seafood. I don't know the state of the island now, or whether there are any animals on it, nor do I know if they would need to take seeds with them to plant other foodstuffs. If the island was viable, I think if Heda Luna was willing, that they could go there. I don't even know if anyone is still living there."
"We know of this island. We do not go there often. The last time was about fifty summers ago. Our ancestors of three generations ago were caught in a storm and their ship was blown off course and ended up at that island. They say that there are wild pigs, goats and cattle there. Some of the island was at that time still bare, but the other part has recovered from the praimfaya. There are trees on the island that our ancestors had not seen before. They said that the seeds of the trees were very large and the insides were edible." The Commander thought some more about the situation.
"Yes, I think that we will have to ask Luna if she is willing to send a ship to this island to see if it can be lived on. Do you have someone who can go with them to see?" Adara looked at Clarke.
"What about David? He was good at Earth Skills, wasn't he?"
"Well, he was good with biology and plant life. He was able to identify that the poultice on Jasper was a type of seaweed," replied Clarke.
"That's good. Anyone else you can think of?"
"Eva was good with geology. Pascal liked the part of Earth Skills that dealt with the ocean. Maybe those two could accompany David."
Adara turned back to the Commander.
"Would it be okay if three went with Heda Luna, Commander? I'll ask if they want to go first, but if they say yes, would it be okay?"
"That would be fine."
"Hope they don't get seasick," said Clarke.
"Oh, I forgot about that," said Adara. "There's no way to know either is there?"
"Nope. They either enjoy the trip or will be vomiting practically the whole way."
"Well, they live and they learn."
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
All three expressed a desire to go and take a look at the island. They had been told that it would be the home for the dissident Arkers who wouldn't follow Adara's orders. They just had to wait until the Commander could get a message to Heda Luna.
Several days later, Heda Luna arrived at Tondc. She arrived with no fanfare, just riding into the village from the other side.
"Commander," said Luna, bowing her head.
"Luna, welcome. Join me in my tent."
"Sha, Heda," replied Luna, turning to follow the Commander.
They entered the Commander's tent and sat down.
"Why have you asked me here?" asked Luna. Lexa looked at Luna fondly. She had always been fond of her fellow natblida, but circumstances dictated that she had to make sure that Luna was not a threat to her Command. Luna made that easy by declaring that she didn't want to fight. She joined a clan on the coast, the Floukru, who lived on an abandoned oil rig out at sea.
"We had a hundred children from the sky fall upon my lands. They were making their way here when they ran into Lincoln. He helped them to get here. The story they have to tell is something that we have to worry about."
"In what way? Are the children themselves a threat?" asked Luna, wondering how goufa could pose a threat.
"Their leader - Adara - has told us that their leader in the sky has made a deal with the maunon. The sky people will send a hundred prisoners to the ground and the maunon will use their bone marrow to cure themselves of the radiation sickness. They will be able to leave the mountain without their suits and will kill any of us 'savages' they can. The sky people will use the mountain as a base until they feel safe enough to leave it. The bone marrow extraction would kill the children. They were sent as a sacrifice." Luna just sat there, staring at the Commander.
"They would kill children to keep themselves safe!"
"Their leader is doing this without the knowledge of the other sky people. Some of the sky people are the parents of the children down here. They were not told of the leader's plans."
"How did the children find out about the deal?"
"Adara, Clarke and one of the adults, Kane, overheard them planning. After that they secretly made recordings and decided that if they were sending children down, they would get themselves arrested and come down to help the others. Their leader, Adara, is quite the leader. She has expressed a desire for her people to find a piece of unused Trikru land that they can build a village on. They wish to farm, hunt and craft. She has asked my permission to do so. I have not given it yet. I need to make sure that they are serious about this."
"And this involves me how?"
"Adara has also expressed a need to find somewhere the undesirable ones can be put that would not interfere with the clans. She remembers a map from the old world that showed an island off the coast but far out in the ocean. She calls this island Bermuda. I think she is talking about Berda."
"Berda? But that place hasn't been used since the war. I know that we went there, but is it livable?"
"That's where you come in. Adara has selected three of her people to go check out the island. I need you to send a ship there and take them with you. Your people would be looking for seafood, and anything else the sea has to offer. Check for trees and plants we know are edible or medicinal. The children would be looking at whether the sky people could live there."
"You want me to go?"
"Not necessarily, you could just send a ship." Luna nodded.
"I'd like to meet these people and their leader."
"Certainly." Lexa called out to a guard. "Fetch Adara, Clarke and the people to go to the island."
"Sha, Heda," the guard said and left.
When they arrived, they were introduced to Luna, Heda of the Floukru Clan. Luna looked at each of them in turn as they were introduced. She saw their ages, yes, but she also saw a determination about them. Whether it was a determination to stay out of the maunon's reach, or to do what was needed for their mission, she did not know. She looked at their leader, Adara. Luna saw someone who was determined to do right by her people AND by the Commander's people. That spoke volumes to Luna. Adara was someone who became a leader because that was what was needed of her. She stayed the leader because she was making the right decisions for all. Adara would do the right thing. She was a good choice.
Clarke was quieter than she thought she would be for a co-leader. Luna watched as she saw both Clarke and Lexa give quick glances to each other. Luna was perplexed at first until she saw the look in Lexa's eyes when she looked at Clarke. It was the same look she had when she looked at Costia, only more so. A co-leader who may be more than that. An ambassador for her people.
The three people she would be taking with her looked nervous. Most people looked nervous when in the company of leaders. There were three of them in this tent! David, looking like he wanted to learn all he could for his leader. The other two - Eva and Pascal - both looked like they were about to vomit. Nerves. They were extremely nervous. Luna hoped that they soon learned to lean over the edge of the correct railing to vomit when at sea!
After talking about what would be needed for the Arkers who would live on Bermuda, Luna and Adara were talking about how different things were on the Ark as opposed to on the ground.
"We have free air down here. Up there, we are dying because the machines that make the air are wearing out and we have no parts to replace them. The oxygen is running out. The only place they can go to survive, is down here. They will be coming down sooner rather than later. We can't stop it." said Adara, sadly.
"You don't want them to come down?" asked Luna.
"I do, but I also want them to be okay with the way things are right now. They've always been told that when they come down, they would have Earth to themselves because no-one survived the war down here. Their arrogance is bigger than their sense of right or wrong, Oh, don't get me wrong, I know some of them will be alright about it, but some of them are the ones in charge and to find out that they will no longer be in charge, or considered the best in their position will be a shock that they will not want to overcome. The need to prove themselves as better than your people will be too much for some. I could name one person who is like that now. Charles Pike. He is a known xenophobe and would stop at nothing to kill you all."
"What's a xenophobe? And what do you intend to do about him?" asked Luna.
"A xenophobe is someone who doesn't like people that are different to themselves. Mostly it means people from another culture or country. Pike needs to die before he can kill your people. Unfortunately, the Station he lives in may be coming down in Azgeda territory. The navigation system used to make sure they come down in the right place is broken and will send them off course - way off course to the North. Raven has sabotaged the nav systems so that the station isn't used, but I think if there are any other of Jaha's people up there, they may launch the station anyway. Pike would then lead the people in slaughtering any grounder he sees and getting a lot of his people killed in the process. He needs to die, Heda Luna and I intend to make sure he does."
Luna looked at her with a sense of disappointment. Killing was never an answer.
"Do you have to kill him? It won't solve anything."
"Yes it will. He will kill hundreds of your people and if he is not stopped, then he will not stop until he has killed ALL of you. Is that what you want? For him to kill you all just because you don't think killing is necessary? How many people have you killed since you became Heda of the Floukru? Were they unnecessary or did you do it to save the others of your clan?" Luna looked down, thinking of the two people she had to kill. They were not right in their heads and she knew that they would not stop hurting people. Adara looked at her a moment before continuing.
"Sometimes a leader must do what is right to save her people. It is a blight on our souls that even we cannot clean off. We have to live with those deaths for the rest of our lives. We do these things so others don't have to. It's part of being a leader. Making the hard choices and doing the right thing - no matter the cost to your soul."
Luna looked at Adara knowing she was right, but she was still struggling with the need to kill when necessary. It was a struggle she knew would continue until her last breath. She nodded at Adara, acknowledging the message. Adara nodded back, deciding that she had said enough. The rest was up to Luna.