AN: Oops, forgot the disclaimer. None of the hundred are mine except for Adara and Tomika. The rest belong to J. Rothenberg and the CW. None of the dragons of Pern are mine, either except for D'bor and his dragon. They belong to Anne and Todd McCaffrey.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Chapter 2
Later that evening after an impromptu celebration, Harper and Roma approached Adara about what they had found.
"Adara, Roma and I have found something," started Harper.
"What did you find?" asked Adara, motioning them into her quarters. They entered and sat on the chairs indicated by Adara at the small table.
"Look at this map," Harper said, spreading the map out. "We were exploring north of Tondc and came across this place called White Oak." Harper pointed to the area in question. "We initially looked at this area because it's at a crossroads with loads of housing within a few miles. This is the shopping complex." She pointed to the small shopping area right next to the crossroads. Roma pulled out her newer map.
"This map, however, is newer and shows something different." Roma laid the map of White Oak right next to the older map for a side by side comparison. Adara immediately spotted the difference.
"That's huge!" Adara exclaimed. "How big is it?"
"We don't know exactly, but we have an estimate of half a mile by three quarters of a mile," said Roma.
"How big?" asked Adara, astonished by the size. "Three quarters of a mile? You sure?"
"No, but it took me nearly 15 minutes to walk the length of it," said Roma. Adara stared at her. alf
"Almost a mile?" Adara said again, still stunned.
"I don't know how to measure a mile over rough ground and walking, but I once read that we walk at a pace of about four miles and hour, so fifteen minutes would be a mile, but that would be over flat ground. Over the forest terrain, it would be more. We haven't found any measuring devices."
"And you think this is full of stores?"
"I hope so. This place is probably big enough to house all of the Skaikru and Tondc and probably one or two of the smaller clans as well. Of course, we have no idea of the state of it. It may have all fallen down inside, or maybe people ransacked it during or after the war. We have no idea." Harper shrugged as well.
"What are you going to do now?" asked Adara. Harper and Roma looked at each other. Harper turned back to Adara.
"We were hoping that you'd come out and take a look. With your second vision thing, maybe you could have a quick peek and see where we should be digging?" said Harper, hopefully.
"Ah, when?"
"In a few days. We'd like to give our team a few days rest before heading out again. It takes three days to get there."
"Three days?"
"Yeah. We stop at a place called Springfield for the night, move on to Tondc the next day and then after that, we move on to White Oak. That part takes all day to get there," said Harper. "We could move further than Springfield, but it is a handy marker for people coming and going." Adara nodded.
"Okay, I'll see what my schedule is, but I think it'll be more towards next week before I can get away."
"Schedule? When did you get a schedule?" asked Harper. Adara rolled her eyes.
"God, I hate politics. It seems that several people want to talk to me about stuff. Seems that now I'm leader of the Arkers, they seem to need constant reassurance about almost everything! About the only thing they haven't asked me about is if it's okay to breathe free air!" Adara said, throwing her hands in the air, disgusted at the antics of the Arkers. Harper and Roma laughed at that.
"Well, seems to me that you'll just have to delegate more," said Roma, still giggling.
"I've tried! Both Raven and Murphy seem to know when to pull a disappearing act!" Adara said, aggrieved. Both women burst out laughing again.
"You're gonna have to corner one of them, Adara, before you burn yourself out. After all, they took on the jobs, they can't complain now that they have to deal with the crap," said Harper.
"I know. I was thinking of siccing Octavia on the pair." Harper and Roma's laughter redoubled and Adara joined in. All three were doubled over with laughter. A few minutes later, Adara calmed down a bit.
"Oh, God, I haven't laughed like that since the Ark." Both womed sobered immediately.
"Sorry, Adara," said Harper.
"You don't have to be sorry, Harper. We've all been through a quite harrowing ordeal and then we had to establish a town and make sure everyone survived winter. I just think this is the first time I've been able to let go with people I trust."
"I'm glad you trust us. The first time around, I didn't know you very well. In fact, I don't think I even talked to you," said Harper.
"Me neither. I was too busy getting with Bellamy to care about anyone else. I can't believe how stupid we were the first time around and I didn't live long enough to enjoy the ground," stated Roma.
"Well you are now, enjoy it, Roma, you've deserved it - both of you."
"You too, Adara. When was the last time you took a day off?" asked Harper.
"Four days ago. Raven told me to not do anything concerning work and then gave me a book to read. I read it sitting on my balcony," Adara said, pointing to it. "I couldn't put it down. Raven then told me that there were about thirty more books in that series. I'm gonna be busy on my days off!"
"Oh, that sounds nice. Relaxing with a book and nothing else to do. Bliss," said Harper, closing her eyes, imagining it.
"Does Monty not get a look in?" asked Roma innocently.
"He gets to play with his computers at the bunker, that's his idea of relaxing time off. Me? I'm gonna read and do nothing." All three laughed.
"What about you, Roma? Anyone on the horizon for you?" asked Adara.
"Well, not Bellamy! He was good but I wasn't looking for anything except fun. But now, I'm looking for more than that. I think with all the maturing we've done over the last year, I'm looking for more long term. Still too young to settle down, but I'm looking."
"What about you, Adara. Time to 'fess up!" said Harper.
"Well, I'm holding out for Anya."
"Anya?!" both women shouted.
"Yeah. I found my soulmate in her. Problem is she's fighting it. I think she knows too, but for some reason, she's really resistant to the idea. I'm just waiting for her to figure out what she wants. I'm only 18, I have time."
"But Anya? Scary Anya?"
"Hey! She's not as scary as Indra."
"True," they both said.
"Anyway," said Roma. "I'm gonna go and get some sleep. I'll see you both tomorrow," she said, getting up.
"Bye, Roma," they said. Once she left, Adara turned to Harper. "Think she's ready to lead her own team?"
"Yes, but she doesn't want to. She told me that when she was temporary leader when Atom was being prison warden, that she really didn't want the job. She did it because both you and Atom had asked her to and she didn't want to let you down." Adara nodded.
"You okay with her being your co-leader or second?"
"Yep. We work well together. She understands what I'm trying to say and she gets me when I'm trying to figure out where to go next. I'm glad she's with me, actually. If anyone else was my second, I don't think I'd be doing as good a job as you think I am."
"Well, you are. Keep it up. Anya and the Commander would like to know where everything is or was in their territory. Anything inside their hunting grounds are theirs. Anything we find outside the hunting grounds are to be shared equally with the Trikru. After all, these are still their lands."
"Yup. I've no problem with that. So, getting back to this huge complex, I need to know where to dig to get into the building. I also need to know if any of it has collapsed and if you have any idea how we dig it out without it all falling down, I'd appreciate it."
"I'll get with Murphy and Drew. Both of them were with me when we dug out Washington Station - in fact Drew and Del did most of it. Maybe they have some ideas."
"Good," said Harper, yawning. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna follow Roma's good idea and go sleep until morning. Bye, Adara," Harper said, getting up and yawning once more.
"Bye," Adara said as Harper left the room. Adara sat there for a few seconds before a yawn overtook her. Sleep was the best idea she'd heard all day.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
She talked to Murphy and Drew the next day and both decided they needed to see the site before figuring out the best way of digging it out. Adara nodded. She also asked how big of a digging crew was needed. Both men looked at each other and then shrugged. Adara nodded again. She knew it would take a lot of people to do it. She wanted the crew to be mostly Skaikru with maybe a few people from Tondc to help out and maybe a few Arkers. It would have to be a large crew maybe even up to about 40 people. It was a big site. She left the meeting not having a definite plan but she knew that without seeing the site, any plan made now would probably be thrown away when they got there. Nothing for it but to wait.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
The next day she managed to corner Raven and get her to step up and help her run both sides of the camp, Skaikru and Arker. Raven said she'd really hated dealing with the Arkers because they were always suspicious about a group of kids being in charge. When Adara pointed out that after last night's party to celebrate four of the former prisoners exonaration, the Arkers were more like Skaikru than Arkers now, Raven capitulated and nodded her agreement to start helping out more with them. She knew that they would soon be Skaikru and then she would have no excuse.
Several days later and Adara was ready to go to White Oak to see the massive building. She, Harper's team, Drew and Murphy set off for the three day trip. They set up for the night at Springfield and moved on to Tondc the next day. Arriving at Tondc, Adara, Harper and Murphy went to pay their respects to the Chief of Tondc and to talk to her and Indra about what they were doing and where.
"Greetings, Anya," said Adara, bowing to her.
"Welcome to Tondc, Heda Adara," replied Anya, also bowing. "What brings you here, today?"
"Harper's team have been exploring to the north of Tondc," said Adara, pulling out a map of the area. "This place up here," she said, pointing to White Oak, "is where they are exploring now."
Indra pointed to the ring road around Washington DC.
"What is this?"
"It's an old road that goes completely around the old Washington DC and beyond. The fact that it completely encircles the city is a good marker for your territory."
"Our territory isn't that big, though," said Anya. "we don't go as far as that road mostly. Our territory ends just south of the river where all three branches of it meet."
"And we only go to this place here," Indra added, pointing to a place west of them.
"Arlington," said Adara
"To the east, we go as far as the farther branch of the river to where it starts splitting off. To the North, we only go to here," Anya said, pointing again. Adara looked at the map.
"National Zoological Park," said Adara. She turned to Indra. "Isn't that where Clarke and the Commander encountered that Pauna last time?" Indra nodded.
"We do not go as far as that, but that place is within our boundaries."
"Does anyone else use the other areas within this ring road?" asked Murphy.
"No," stated Anya. "There used to be a village located here, but there were too many attacks from wild animals."
"Silver Spring," supplied Harper.
"Does anyone go into that region?" Adara asked.
"None of us do. We have not tested that area in over twenty years. The last time, there were still mutated animals there."
"Well, we didn't encounter any animals except the usual ones, deer, boar, rabbits, squirrels, birds and in the distance to the east, we saw a bear," said Harper. "We never had any problem walking through that area." Anya and Indra looked at each other.
"Maybe it's time to see if the area is livable again," said Anya. Indra nodded.
"Well, we're going to White Oak," said Adara, pointing to their target location once more.
"We'll send some people with you to search the area," said Anya.
"I will go with Octavia and a few others. It will be a good training opportunity for her." Anya nodded.
"Take Artigas as well. He is getting better at stealth tactics. Test him."
"Sha, Anya."
"Take Fio and Tomac as well. When you've checked out the area, go on to this White Oak and see what the Skaikru are doing."
"Sha, Anya," Indra said again.
"Thank you," said Adara, bowing to both Trikru. Harper and Murphy also bowed. Both Skaikru and Trikru left to make arrangements for the trek the following day.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Once at Silver Spring, Indra and Octavia with the other warriors, left the group and went off to search the area for signs of Pauna or any other mutated animal from the zoo. Adara and the others carried on to White Oak to check out how much digging they were going to have to do. As they came upon the giant building, Adara stopped in her tracks.
"Shit! That's massive!" she said, in awe at the size of the building. Harper's team all chuckled.
"Yep," said Roma. It's going to be a bitch to dig out too." Adara nodded as she still stared at the building. Adara shook herself and turned to Harper and Roma.
"How tall do you think it is? Three levels or four?"
"Probably four, but we don't know the condition of the top one."
"Okay. Let me see what's around," said Adara. Harper and Roma nodded and each took a side of Adara. They were there to provide support if Adara needed it.
Adara looked at the mound in front of her. She pushed through the layers of soil and dirt until she came to the building itself. As she looked around, she realised that the big shopping complex must have been built after 2020. All she saw were the smaller buildings. She was of no help here except for digging.
"No good," Adara said. "The complex is the same as one the older map. This building must have been a later build than my sight can go to."
"Bummer," said Harper. "Was hoping you could see what was where."
"Sorry."
"Not your fault. Well we'll just have to try to figure it out," said Roma, pulling out the older map. Harper pulled out the newer map and they looked for overlapping places that were the same in both times. They concluded that the only thing they were certain of was that the main roads were in the same position, therefore only two walls would have been in the same position. It really was no help at all.
"If people were coming here to shop, then they would have to park their cars somewhere, and it would more likely be somewhere near the entrance, wouldn't it?" asked Angela. All three turned to look at her in astonishment.
"Sorry, just thought it would help," said Angela, turning away.
"No, no!" said Adara, jumping to Angela's side and turning her around. "You just gave us something to go on. I'm surprised I didn't think of that. Thank you." Angela smiled.
"Okay, on the map, where is the car park?" Adara asked.
There are two of them - sort of. It looks like there are two main car parks connected with a few smaller ones," said Harper, pointing to the corner of the parks where a road branched off to three smaller car parks. Roma looked closer.
"Bus park. What's a bus?"
"No idea," said Adara.
"Me neither," said Harper.
"They're long vehicles designed to carry around 40 passengers," said Kathy. Everyone turned to her. "What? Dad was very specific about the different types of vehicles they had before the war." Adara looked at her before she pulled her mind back to the problem.
"Okay, so, the entrances would be near those two car parks I'd presume."
"So we go around the side and try there?" asked Roma.
"Might as well. Not going to get anything done just standing here," said Adara.
"Okay, everyone move to the side of the building over there," Harper said, raising her voice and her hand in the direction she wanted them to go. They all walked over to the side and looked at it.
"Well, shit!" said Roma, looking at the side that had fallen down. A huge amount of soil and dirt had fallen onto the area the car park was and had built up another mound they would have to dig out before they could get to the entrance.
"Well, Drew, any ideas?" Drew was looking at the ground around the side of the building and the mound. He also kept looking at the roof.
"If I can get up there and check out the type of soil and dirt that's up there, I can figure out if this is going to be easy or hard. Scratch that. If the soil is clay-like, it'll come off in clumps. That's good, but it's also bad as it will stick together and be harder to remove. If the soil is loose, then it'll be a bitch to keep from falling, but it'll be easier to dig away. Both methods have good and bad points, Adara. I won't know which until I've checked it."
"Go on, Drew, check it out. Josh, Mac, Murphy, go with him." All three nodded and headed for the path to the top.
Adara studied the newer map again.
"If I was putting an entrance on this side, I'd put it in the middle. Most of the car park on this side stretches almost along the entire length, so either there are multiple entrances or a single one in the middle," she said, pointing to various parts on the building.
"I agree, but I think there would be multiple entrances, this building is just too big to have only one entrance," said Harper, moving back a few steps to take in the entire length of the building. "I think that it would have several entrances either there or there" she said, pointing to places along the side. Drew's head appeared over the edge of the complex.
"I think it's mostly loose soil! Easy to move, hard to keep from falling!" Drew shouted. Adara nodded and motioned for him to come back down.
When he did, they discussed where the best place to dig would be.
"With this soil, I think it would be better to dig along the entire length of this side and see what falls off," said Drew. "That way we won't have too much falling on top of us when we're digging out down here."
"Good thinking, Drew. I remember when the soil fell when we were digging out Washington Station," Adara said, shuddering.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking about too," he admitted.
"Alright, we uncover the entire length and then we need to be careful when we start digging out the entrances. We need to make sure that no soil can fall and block the entrance if we find a way in. I do not want to be trapped in there!" said Adara, fervently. All three shook their heads vigorously. "We'll start first thing in the morning, but for now, we'll make camp and get some food into us. It's almost dark and I want us set up before it gets fully dark." They nodded and set about making camp and organising sentry duty.
The next morning they uncovered the length of the building from corner to corner. They would try to lever some of the soil away from the walls from the roof to see how much would fall away. They found that about a third of the way from each end, the soil came away quite easily and uncovered eight to ten feet down. Now all they had to do was figure out how to bring the rest down without burying themselves.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
The next day brought Indra, Octavia and several warriors to White Oak. Adara greeted them and bade them to have some food that had been prepared just that morning. After the Trikru had eaten, the Skaikru showed Indra and Octavia the map that showed the large complex. They then showed them the actual digging they had done and told them of the dilemma they had in digging out the rest. Indra and Octavia were looking at the work already done when Adara suddenly stopped and looked around, holding her hand up and everyone reacted to it. The warriors were looking for the source of the threat and the Skaikru were watching the area around them.
"There!" shouted Peter, pointing to the sky. They all looked up and saw a speck in the sky growing bigger. They watched as it got closer. They couldn't make out what it was, but that didn't stop Indra from issuing instructions.
"Fio, Tomac up the trees now, Artigas, Octavia, up on this building. Check the ground, trees and sky for more of whatever that is!"
Harper had brought up her binoculars to see it better.
"Holy fuck!" she exclaimed.
"What is it?!" asked Adara, tersely.
"A dragon!" replied Harper, taking the binoculars down and looking at Adara with confusion.
"A dragon? Harper, they don't exist!"
"I know, but take a look and tell me that's not a dragon!" Harper said, extending the binoculars to her. Adara took them and looked for herself. When she lowered them she turned to Harper.
"That's a dragon!"
"Stop screwing around, guys," said Roma. Silently Adara passed the binoculars to Roma, looking back into the air.
"Fucking hell! What is that?"
"A dragon," both Adara and Harper deadpanned.
"They don't exist except in stories."
"I know. I've just been reading about them," said Adara. She took the binoculars back for another look. "Shit it's got a rider too… and the rider looks injured!" Harper took her binoculars back and looked again.
"He's coming down in the back car park, guys. If he is injured, we'd better do something about it." Adara started running for the back of the complex. She stopped at the edge of a large clearing - a clearing big enough for the dragon to land. She waited as it got closer. Murphy, Roma and Harper came up to her on her left side as Indra moved to her right. They watched as the dragon grew bigger and bigger as it got nearer. Eventually it landed in the clearing and no-one moved at first until Adara took the initiative. She stepped out into the clearing a few steps and stopped. She slowly moved around the dragon until she was in its sight. The dragon's head snapped around to see the intruder. It let out a roar.
"I won't hurt you, brown dragon. I just want to help your rider, he's injured. Can I help him, please?" Adara said, keeping her voice gentle and low, even though she was scared. The dragon looked at the stranger.
"I do not know you." The voice was in her head!
"I am Adara. May I help your rider?"
"Yes. He is hurt."
"I will be gentle with him. I will call my friends to help as well." The dragon looked over her shoulder to those still at the treeline.
"They will not hurt me or my rider?"
"No, they won't."
"Won't what?" asked Murphy.
"You won't hurt him or his rider," replied Adara.
"How do you know that was his concern?"
"He told me."
"He told you? How?" asked Roma suspiciously.
"He talks to me in my head. Telepathy."
"Please help him."
"Who said that?" said Roma, looking around.
"The dragon did," replied Adara. "Look, help me with his rider, he needs medical help." Roma came over as did Harper. Indra stayed in the treeline and watched.
The women came to the side of the dragon while Murphy stayed beside Indra at the treeline. Adara moved towards the rider but couldn't see how to get up to him. The dragon put out one leg.
"Stand on my leg to reach him. Unfasten his riding straps and bring him to the ground," the dragon said. Adara nodded and stood on his leg. Reaching up, she was able to unclip his straps and the rider fell towards her. Roma and Harper moved over to catch the falling rider and helped him down and laid him on the ground.
"We got him," said Harper. Adara got down.
What are your names, anyway?" she asked the dragon.
"I am Cralleth and my rider is D'bor."
"Well, Cralleth, welcome to Earth," said Adara as she knelt to attend to D'bor.
"Earth? That is not possible."
"Well that's where you are right now. How you got here, I don't know, but we will figure out how to send you home."
"I would like that. I want to go home to Benden Weyr."
"We'll get you there, somehow, Cralleth. Now let us see to your rider. Can you tell me what happened?"
"We were practising going between and I went between expecting to come out at Southern Weyr. We came here instead."
"Was your rider injured when you went between?"
"No. I do not know how he was injured." Cralleth's head hung down low, looking at his rider.
"That's okay. Let's take a look and see what's going on." Adara and Roma unbuckled his riding jacket and took it off. Next they checked his ribs and when the rider winced even when unconscious, they removed his shirt too. Large bruises were forming and gentle palpation of his abdomen and chest proved that his ribs were the only damage Adara could find. She looked with her mind at his torso and saw that the ribs were cracked.
"His ribs are cracked, Cralleth. I'll try to heal them up a bit, but he will still need time to recover before he attempts to ride again."
"He will get better?"
"Yes, Cralleth, he will. It'll just take time." Adara closed her eyes as she 'looked' at his injuries. She put her hand on the injured rib and watched as the cracks healed. The bruising was next and she gently moved her hand over each one. Eventually she pulled her hand away and opened her eyes. The bruises were gone.
"Erm, Adara? You do know we can't hear him, don't you?" asked Harper. Adara looked surprised at that,
"You can't?" Both women shook their heads.
"I heard him ask us to 'please help him', but nothing after that."
"I never heard that," said Harper.
"Well at least I can hear him and answer him. Maybe he just needed to tell someone what happened and to get help for his rider. Maybe he chose me because I was the one who approached him first," Adara said, shrugging. "Doesn't matter right now, though. We need to get him to shelter." Harper nodded.
"I'll go get my team to help." Harper hurried off towards Indra and out towards her team. Indra was still standing there, staring at the dragon. Adara went over to her.
"Indra? You okay?"
"Is that thing dangerous?" Indra asked suspiciously.
"No, Indra. The dragons on his homeworld are man's greatest ally. The dragons there keep their world from being destroyed by an organism that falls on their world like rain does. This organism eats all it touches that is organic. Plants, animals and people. It has no mind that we recognise. The dragons and riders fly to where the thread is falling and flame the organism out of the sky before it can reach the ground."
"How many dragons?"
"Thousands, Indra. They are spread among several places they call weyrs. They are usually extinct volcanoes that they have turned into homes for themselves. There are several hundred dragons to each weyr. They come in five colours. Gold, bronze, brown, blue and green. They are the saviours of that world and are not dangerous - unless you threaten their riders."
"What happens to it if its rider dies? We don't need a dragon flying around and making its home here."
"If the rider dies, the dragon suicides. When they are newly hatched, they search for the mind of the person who is most like themselves. When it finds that mind, it looks into the eyes of that person and impression is made. Both minds are telepathically linked. Usually when one dies, the other follows - both ways around. There are only two cases I know of where the rider survived the loss of their dragons. The link is that strong. They call themselves dear heart or lifemate or light of my life, etc."
"A dragon can suicide?"
"Without his rider, he becomes almost mindless. They can somehow find their way to the place they go to when they are teleporting. A place they call 'between'. It is said to be black and you don't feel anything - no sound, taste, smell, feeling, or hear anything. You are totally sense deprived there. It is the place dragons go when they die."
"Why would anyone want to become a dragonrider if that could happen to you?"
"Why did you become a great warrior knowing you could die on a battlefield somewhere?" countered Adara. Adara stood aside as Harper returned with her team and started to set up tents along the edge of the treeline, leaving enough room for the dragon.
Indra looked at the dragon again.
"Can we get him back to his world?" she asked.
"I hope so," said Adara. "I really hope so."
Indra went up to the dragon to have a really good look at him. Adara followed and watched as Indra checked out every inch of him she could see.
"Want to be a dragon rider?" Adara asked, impishly.
"No, too conspicuous." Adara laughed.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
AN2: I know that impression doesn't need eye contact, but for my story, they do.