Chapter 6
The next morning they applied the ointment again and then got some food. After that it was a lot of walking around trying to find anything that they could identify from the town before the war. One of the warriors called them over and asked what the slabs of stone meant. Raven and Sol looked at them and recognized them from their history lessons on the Ark as gravestones. Sol leaned forward and read what she could of the inscription. This grave belonged to a military man who died during the second world war. Raven was looking at her map, trying to figure out which direction they needed to go. She was showing one of the warriors.
"Look, this is the river, and this is the cemetery," she said pointing to each place.
"What's a cemetery?"
"Before the war, people used to bury their dead. This place was a military cemetery. A place for fallen warriors," she explained. The thought of being put under the ground when he died sent a shudder through him. Being under the ground wouldn't allow his soul to be set free. He lifted his head and looked around.
"The river is over there," he said, pointing behind Raven.
"So that would mean we need to go that way," she said pointing in front of her.
They headed off towards the back of the cemetery.
"Watch out for more gravestones, once we don't see them anymore, we need to stop and make sure we're out of the cemetery," Sol informed them.
Raven nodded and kept an eye out for them.
Eventually they found an old piece of railing and realised it was the end of the cemetery.
"There's a small pond of water over there," said the same warrior, pointing to their right.
"Good, that means it's somewhere dead ahead of us. Now we need to figure out where," said Raven, again looking at the map.
"What's your name?"
"Torvan," he replied.
"Thanks, Torvan," Raven said, smiling at him.
They spent most of the morning searching for any remains of buildings. Each mound was checked and any pieces of rubble were checked too. Eventually Jayton found a piece of masonry that looked like a wall.
"Over here," he called. Sol walked over to him and he pointed to the wall. Sol pulled up clumps of grass to get a better look at the bottom of the wall and saw the soil wasn't very deep. She pulled up some more and found the hard ground underneath. She brushed some more dirt away and saw broken bits of tarmac and a few painted lines on some of them. It was a car park!
"Hey, Raven, was there a car park near that store?" Raven checked.
"Yeah," she said.
"I've found a car park - or rather bits of one."
"Don't get your hopes up, Sol, most stores had a car park. This could be any one of a myriad of them." Sol nodded, but kept looking. She went back to the wall and started to uncover a small amount all along the wall. Just as she reached the end of the broken section of wall, she could make out a small upright piece of rusted metal. She kept going and uncovered another one about two foot away and the first course of brickwork for the rest of the wall.
"I think I've found where the door was," Sol called out. Raven came over and they examined the remains of the wall.
"Well, if the car park is on this side, then the store should be on the other. Let's dig on the back side of this wall and see what we find," Raven said. Sol agreed and they got to work. They stripped off the vegetation around the edges of the concrete floor until Raven found a hole in it.
"Here!" she shouted. Sol came rushing over and they examined it.
"We need to carefully dig it out. No doubt a lot of the soil clogging that hole will fall into it instead," said Sol. Raven agreed and they dug as much of the soil and dirt out of the hole as they could before the rest of it collapsed into the hole. They jumped back when it did and then Raven took out her flashlight and shone it into the hole. They could make out steps going down and started to dig those out. At the bottom, they both shone their lights around and saw another store room full of stuff.
"Bingo!" said Raven. She went over to a shelf with electronic parts on it. She rifled through several boxes and her smile kept getting bigger.
"I can make several radios with this stuff!" Raven exclaimed.
"Good. I've found some other stuff too. I don't think this was just an electronics store, Raven. There's more clothing here and some fishing rods. Raven went over to Sol and looked around.
"I think this is one of those outdoor clothing and activity places," she said. Sol picked up a label.
"Survival speciality store," she read. They looked at each other and smiled.
"All right! Let's see what else we've got in here."
For the rest of the day, they checked the store and found a lot of the same things they found in the first store they had gotten their goods from.
There were binoculars, telescopes, night vision goggles, thermal cameras, trail cameras, infrared cameras, Thermal clothing, warm weather clothing and cold weather clothing. Paracord, netting, fishing nets, axes both large and small, sledgehammers and small hammers, tools, wheelbarrows, saddles, horse panniers, tents, backpacks, ration packs, sleeping bags, med kits, firestarters, weapons and a whole lot more.
Raven went back and picked up a backpack and started picking which items she needed to make a radio including the necessary tools. Sol looked at the weapons and decided to take some back to Tondc as payment for their help. She called in Torvan and they looked them all over and picked out ones that Torvan tested and passed fit for use. They packed another backpack with some of the smaller weapons and wrapped the rest up in a tarp they came across. It was a waxed canvas tarp and not the bright blue plastic ones that were in the other store.
Raven filled the remainder of her backpack with other goods and they left the store. They spent one more night there before heading back to Tondc.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
In Tondc, the Commander had arrived. She rode into Tondc with only one bodyguard with her. Anya was there to greet her.
"Welcome, Commander," said Anya, bowing.
"Anya," she said in return. "Why did you call me here?"
"We have found four sky people, Commander." The Commander was astonished. They were not supposed to come down for another year!
"Where are they?"
"Two have gone to find some old world tek, but the other two are here." Anya led her over to the fire where two people sat. They stood up when the Commander and Anya approached. They waited for Anya to indroduce the young woman.
"This is Commander Lexa, Commander of the 12 clans of the Kongeda. Commander, these are Aurora Blake, mother of Octavia and Bellamy and Jake Griffin, father of Clarke." Once more the Commander was shocked, but she didn't let it show. Aurora Blake and Jake Griffin! Two people who were supposed to be dead. What were they doing here?
Both newcomers bowed to the Commander, and she nodded in return.
"How did you come here?" she asked. Rory and Jake looked at each other.
"Rory and I," Jake started, pointing to the both of them, "were due to be floated - killed - for going against the laws of the Ark. We expected to be killed, but we were taken to rooms and lived there until we were taken to a small craft and placed aboard. We were tied up and unconscious, Commander. We had no say in it at all. Raven and Sol volunteered to come down with us, though they didn't know who we were. Jaha made a deal with Sol. Sol's sister was in prison for the same reason as Octavia - she was a second child and second children were not allowed. Jaha said that if Sol volunteered to go to the ground, he would free Erin - her sister - and let her take Sol's place on the Ark. Sol took the deal. She watched her sister be set free before she boarded the craft. Raven volunteered to pilot the craft instead of it being dropped in a deadfall. That's when they don't use engines or a pilot and they plummet down. There are parachutes and thrusters to slow the vessel down, but in a deadfall, it wouldn't be enough and Raven knew this, so she volunteered. They shot us away from the Ark and then it was up to Raven to make sure we landed safely."
"So your leader in the Ark betrayed you and instead of killing you he sent you down here."
"Yes, Commander. We still don't know why. The radio they sent down with us had been destroyed inside and they did the same to any equipment we had as well. I don't understand why they wouldn't want to know about conditions on the ground," Jake said.
"Well you're here now and you are safe," said the Commander, smiling at both of them. They nodded and the Commander walked off.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
When Raven and Sol got back, there was another person there. They got off their horses and went over to Anya when she waved them over.
"Raven, Sol, this is Lexa, Commander of the twelve clans," Anya said. Raven and Sol immediately bowed to her.
"Commander," they both said in unison. The Commander nodded to them.
"Welcome back, Raven," she said.
"I'm sorry, Commander, but I don't remember any of this."
"I know, but we do so we'll help you know what to do and when."
"Yes, Commander." The Commander turned to Sol.
"Jake said that last time, you were on Factory station and didn't survive coming to Earth."
"So I've been told, Commander."
"Well, this time you are here, so welcome to Earth."
"Thank you Commander."
"Now, Anya and Indra have said you've been looking for old world tek. Is that wise?"
"Yes, Commander. Before I came down, I made a recording for Monty telling him that I would build a radio and make contact with him. That's a promise I intend to keep, Commander," Raven said, seriously. The Commander nodded.
"And those packs you have, are they filled with radio things?"
"No, Commander. We took things that could be used by the people of Tondc as well. We also found some more weapons and Torvan and Sol looked them over and picked out a few of them as payment to Tondc for helping us in our time of need." The Commander, Anya and Indra all perked up at the mention of weapons.
"Can we see them?"
"Certainly, Commander." Sol turned around and shouted over to Torvan.
"Torvan! Can you bring those larger weapons over, please? The Commander would like to inspect them." He nodded and untied the rope holding the pack to the back of his horse and brought it over and handed it to Sol.
"Mochof, Torvan," Sol said. Torvan grinned and walked off to tend to the horses.
Sol knelt and unrolled the tarp and an array of weapons and axes were unrolled too.
Indra bent and picked up an axe.
"What kind of axe is this?" she asked, waving the axe around. "It's a bit light for chopping trees."
"That's a throwing axe." Sol explained.
"What's that?"
"A weapon. You hold it by this handle and you throw it at your opponent. Someone who is an expert with this weapon, could kill dozens in the time it takes for you to kill six with your sword." All three Trikru were impressed.
"But if it's a throwing axe, doesn't that imply that you throw it."
"Yes, but you can wield it too. Problem with a throwing weapon is you need a lot of them otherwise once you've thrown it, you need to go get it back and you can't really do that in the middle of a battle can you?" Sol said with a shrug.
The Commander picked up a sword. She hefted it, testing its weight and speed through the air.
"I like this one," she said.
"Then it's yours," said Sol. "Sorry, but there were no scabbards with them."
"That's okay, I can easily get one made for it," said the Commander, still looking at the sword. Sol nodded and pulled open her pack that had some more hand weapons in them. She pulled out regular small axes, knives, a small crossbow pistol and some bolts for it, some throwing stars, machetes, arrows for a normal bow - there wasn't a bow in the store - and some wrist braces.
Anya was intrigued by the crossbow.
"What is that," she said pointing to it.
"Ah, that's a weapon I would like to practise with. This is a crossbow pistol. You can get full sized crossbows too, but there weren't any there."
"How does it work?"
Sol picked it up and showed Anya each part of it. She showed how you needed to reset it each time and then put a bolt in the groove in the top of the pistol with the back end of the arrow against the string. She turned towards a tree and made sure that no-one was in the vicinity and then brought her arm up, sighted the tree and pulled the trigger. The bolt shot from the bow with tremendous force and was buried halfway into the tree. The Trikru was awed by its power, but understood the limitations of needing to reset it each time. A regualr bow was much faster, only impeded by the speed of the archer and limited arrows.
"It's a nice weapon, but not very practical for us," said Anya.
"I know, I was thinking more along the lines of hunting," said Sol, putting the weapon away.
"I agree, but I think I'll stick to my bow."
"I'd like to learn how to use a bow and sword… and stave… basically I'd like to be taught how to use weapons. I think I'm going to need it after hearing what's going to happen in the future. If nothing else, it'll help me keep my sister alive once she comes down."
Anya nodded.
"You'll all be taught weapons," she said.
"Do you understand the importance of an alliance with your people?" asked the Commander.
"Not yet, but with more time and more planning and further explanation, we'll get there. The Arkers may not like it, Commander and they'll fight against you. If we can get the hundred onside, then I think we have a very good base for an alliance," Sol said.
"I agree, Commander," said Raven. "We need to make sure that those kids are protected. If we can show them that you are not going to kill them, we can train them for our use."
"How?"
"Most of them are just scared kids who weren't given a chance, Commander. Some of those are now angry with everything up there. If we can hone those into a fighting force, I think we can do this. That mountain needs to fall, Commander and I'm damned if I'll sit back and let more people be taken - including those kids," said Sol.
"Even Murphy?" asked Raven, referring to one of the hundred they were told about.
"Yep. I think he just needs an outlet for the betrayal he feels towards the Ark. He'll know that when the Ark comes down, they'll try to bring their lost sheep back into the fold, but they won't treat them any different than the criminals they know they are. I want to give them a place to go instead of having to return to the Arkers camp, Commander," she continued.
Raven was thoughtful. She thought of all she knew of the Ark and all she had learned on the ground about how the adults of the Ark had treated those of the hundred that had survived. She also wondered how the Trikru could remember previous lives.
"Can I ask a question?" The Commander nodded.
"How come you four remember and no-one else does?" The three of them looked at each other.
"We don't really know, Raven. I remember looking through some old world books. Not many of us can read in gonasleng - english - but as the Commander, I was taught it. In that book was a list of words dealing with people's jobs. One of those words was 'clerk'. I pronounced it wrongly and Titus corrected me. When I heard the proper pronunciation, I remembered a previous life as well as the woman who had that name."
"Clarke? Clarke Griffin?" asked Raven, amazed.
"Yes."
"And the others? Because unless there's someone down here called Octavia, I don't see how Lincoln could remember."
"My word was 'Pike', it's a type of fish with sharp teeth," said Indra. "When I heard that word, I remembered what the person called Pike did to my warriors and people," Indra continued, getting more and more irate when she thought of what he did.
"I was telling Lincoln about it and he was sceptical when I said that I would take one of the skai people on as a second. When I said her name, he remembered."
"Yeah, that would do it," quipped Raven. "And you, Anya?"
"Mine was three words - 'ring of fire'."
"When Clarke burned three hundred of your warriors," said Sol, nodding in her understanding. "So that would mean that a word or phrase would take on a personal meaning for each of you. Think it would be the same for the others?"
"It might work for me," said Raven. But you, Jake and Aurora, never made it to the ground. They both died in space and you crashed and died on impact."
"Yeah, thanks for the reminder," Sol said, morosely.
"Sorry," said Raven, looking contrite.
"I'll get used to it, it's just a little raw right now." Raven nodded.
"So, getting back to the hundred, I think there may be some… what?... wake up words?"
"How about 'trigger or recall words'?" said Sol.
"Yeah, that's better," said Raven.
"We just have to figure out what they could be. Do we trigger them all? If not, who do we trigger?" asked Sol.
"No idea, but we've got a year to figure that out."
"Okay, so what now?" asked Sol.
"Now we train you on the things you need to know," said The Commander. "Anya and Indra will train you along with others. You will learn weapons, tracking, scouting, hunting, riding and you'll be taught to speak our language."
Both Raven and Sol nodded in acceptance. Both knew it would be a hard long slog, but hopefully, it would be worth it.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
On the Ark
On Thursday at 8pm, Bellamy turned a corner into the corridor where room 462 was. There in front of him were three people. Only one he recognized - Abby Griffin, Chief Medical Officer and a member of Jaha's council. He clenched his jaw and continued on.
Monty opened the door and ushered everyone in. Once inside, Monty closed and bolted the door before taking the final seat around a table. A pad of paper and a pen sat beside him.
"Okay, everyone, this is Bellamy Blake. Bellamy, this is Harper McIntyre, you probably recognise Dr Griffin and I'm Monty Green. Now, I'm a friend of Raven Reyes. Harper is a friend of Sol Armstrong, you are the son of Aurora Blake and Dr Griffin is the wife of Jake Griffin. Everyone in this room has someone they know on the ground." Nods all around the table. Monty continued.
"My friend Raven, volunteered to go down. She learned that they were going to send the craft to the ground in a deadfall - that means without engines and no way of slowing down enough to land safely. Raven volunteered to pilot the craft. She left me a message with some questions that need answering. I hope that someone here has that answer."
"My friend Sol was sent down after Jaha and Kane made a deal with her. They'd free her sister if she went to the ground to act as bodyguard for a couple of scientists they were sending down to see if the Earth was survivable. They DID release Erin before Sol was sent down, but almost as soon as Sol was off the Ark, Erin was re-arrested and thrown back into lockup. It was her fortune that she was now sharing a cell with Octavia Blake, Bellamy's sister," said Harper.
"I was working in the main guard office in Alpha when an incident happened and the guard on duty, ran out and accidentally locked me in. I took the chance and snuck a look at some documents on the desk. There was nothing of interest there, so I went to the filing cabinet in the corner. They'd left it unlocked and I looked at the titles on some of the files. One was labelled 'non-floated prisoners'. I looked in the file and it was one page with only four names on it. Aurora Blake, Jake Griffin, Solange Armstrong and Raven Reyes. Sol and Raven's names were starred and it was because they had volunteered. Mom and Jake didn't." They all turned to Abby.
"But Sol and Raven weren't prisoners!" Harper said.
"I know, and I have no idea why their names are on that list other than they were sent down to the ground," said Bellamy.
"I know a little bit of why they were sent to the ground. My husband, Jake, found out that the machine that makes the air is failing. It's not producing enough air to live up here for much longer - maybe a year or so." There were gasps from the other three. Abby carried on. "My daughter knew about it too, so they locked her up in solitary and floated my husband. I asked about Jake's watch, which was a family heirloom. Jaha told me that it was a rookie guard that floated Jake and he forgot to ask about it and just floated him. I knew that if Jake was floated, he would have insisted that the watch go to Clarke." All took a little time to digest what they'd heard.
"So how do you all know each other?" asked Abby.
"Well, Harper's my girlfriend and we talked about our missing friends but didn't have any answers. Sol has a sister as does Bellamy and they are cellmates. When Sol left the Ark and Erin was temporarily freed, she read a letter Sol left behind for her along with two info sheets. She read them and then destroyed them as instructed by Sol. It was only a few minutes later that she was re-arrested. When she found that Octavia was a second child too, they talked about some stuff and Bellamy's name came up. Octavia would tell Bellamy anything Erin told her. Bellamy told her about the list he'd seen and she told Erin and Erin told Clarke that her father was still alive. Then she told you, Dr Griffin and you contacted me and here we are," Monty said.
"So what do we do now?" Monty looked at each of them.
"Okay, I need your word that this goes no further, okay?"
"I promise," said Bellamy.
"Depends on what you have to say," said Abby, looking at him through narrowed eyes.
"Dr, Griffin, if you tell anyone else, then we'd all be arrested and you and Bellamy would be floated immediately. Is that what you want?" Abby was taken aback by the boy's manner.
"No, it's not," admitted Abby.
"Look, Abby, we know you're on the council and you think you know what's best for everyone, but look at what Jaha did. Do you think you are immune to his whims?"
Abby looked at him and then at the table, contemplating what she knew to what should have been done.
"No, if he could float my husband and arrest my child, then he'd do anything to keep himself in power," she reluctantly admitted. Monty nodded.
"We need to keep this between us and our friends in the Skybox."
"So what do we do?"
"At the moment, nothing. Raven said that when she goes down, she'll try to find parts to make a radio so she can contact me." He held up his hands to stop Abby or Bellamy from speaking. "A few months ago, Raven and I made a radio that had higher frequencies than the Ark's radios do. That means that the Ark's can only go so far, but ours can go further, because we wanted to see if we could. If we use the upper frequencies, the Ark cannot listen in. We just need to wait until Raven calls in."
"You made a radio?" queried Bellamy.
"Yep, I'm an electronic whizzkid and after my schooling, I'll be recruited into Mecha and put on that aspect of electronics," Monty said. Harper was sitting beside him, smiling proudly.
"So if the air is running out, what are Jaha and the council doing about it?" asked Bellamy.
"Well, they said they sent scientists down to find out if the Earth was survivable, but knowing who's in the list, I don't think any of them are qualified to know about the conditions on the ground," said Abby. "Is your mother a scientist?"
"No, she's a seamstress. She would repair any of the guards' uniforms when they needed it," he said.
"Well, Sol's still 17, Raven's 18 and a mechanic, Jake's also a mechanic and Aurora is a seamstress. Not one scientist among them. Wonder why they sent those four down?" mused Monty. They were all perturbed by that. Each of them wondered about it themselves.
"Were they sent down with a radio?" asked Harper. No-one knew the answer.
"I would have thought that Raven would have insisted on one. She would know something was wrong if they didn't have one," Monty said.
"So they should have reported in by now, right?" Harper said, looking around.
"I would have if I was down there. Even if it was to say we were down and safe," said Bellamy.
"Any way you could find that out, Dr Griffin? Wouldn't Jaha say something about it?"
"He hasn't so far. How long were they gone? Ten days?" asked Abby.
"Yeah, about that," said Monty.
"They must have radioed in by now," said Bellamy, worried about his mother.
"I'll ask at the next council meeting. If I say it then, the other councillors would also want to know the answer. If I asked him in private, then he could try to delay telling me," Abby said.
"Okay, when's the next council meeting?"
"Sunday."
"And when do you go see Clarke next?"
"I'm only allowed to see her once a month, so it'll be at least three more weeks."
"Can anyone else see her?"
"They're not supposed to, she's in solitary for a reason - to stop her from telling anyone else about the failing air supply."
"Well, either Harper or Bellamy can tell Erin or Octavia and they can tell Clarke."
"I might be able to do something about that. I'm looking into getting her moved to the first cell in solitary so the girls don't have to shout."
"Good. So want to meet back here on Monday at 8pm again?" asked Monty.
"I need to check my schedule," said Bellamy, but if I'm free, yes."
"Me too," said Abby.
"Let one of us know if you can't attend, please and we'll reschedule," said Monty. Everyone nodded and got up and left separately. Now it was up to Raven to get in touch with them.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
On the ground
"Raven, do you need any help building the radio?" asked Jake.
"You can help if you want, but I don't actually NEED it, but you can hand me the tools if you like," Raven said sarcastically.
"Nice one, Raven," Jake said, sitting down beside her and watching what she was doing. They sat in silence and Jake did hand her the tools she needed. It took another hour for Raven to get all the bits and pieces put into the radio casing she'd found.
"Now, let's see if we can get some juice into it," Raven said, pulling out a small solar panel and cable. "We'll have to use solar power, but it should be enough. We just have to wait until tomorrow morning to try it."
"Do you think you can contact Monty?"
"Yep, I do. Tomorrow's Saturday and Monty will be in my little hidey-hole - I hope," she said.
"And then?"
"Then we make sure that our loved ones know we are alive. Maybe even talk to Abby if Monty can get her to the radio."
"That'd be nice," Jake said. "I'd love to talk to my wife again." He sighed as he thought of all the time Abby must have thought him dead. Rory too, would like to hear from her son. Octavia, Clarke and Erin would have to wait until they came down to speak with their loved ones, but speaking to his wife would be a good thing. He forgave her for what she did, after all it was Jaha who decided to arrest him and imprison Clarke. All Abby meant to do was to get Jaha to talk him out of telling everyone about the failing air supply.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Rory was looking through her pack and wondering if she could alter some of the clothing to fit her better. The Commander came over to her.
"You are the one called Rory?"
"Yes, Commander," Rory said, standing up.
"You are the mother of Octavia and Bellamy."
"Yes."
"Have you been told of the division of your children?"
"Yes, Commander. I hope that when they come down, I can talk to Bellamy and show him that you are no different from him. You both want to protect those you love and you'll fight to the death to do that. Bellamy was always a little short-sighted when trying to figure out someone else. He never could see someone else's point of view. He was always getting into trouble because he would insist that he was right when it came to looking after Octavia. That will be his downfall, I'm afraid, Commander. He won't want to let Octavia be her own person and he will insist that no-one else can look after her other than him."
"Octavia took to our way of life very quickly," the Commander said.
"I think that's because she never grew up with us telling her the way of the Ark. She never had to deal with the guards or the council telling everyone what to do - and sometimes how to do it. She's looking for her own way of living and if the only other option is your people, then she'd take it just because it's not the Ark - and not Bellamy either." Rory sighed. "I hope both my children listen to me, but both of them are stubborn."
"I think Jake, too, will have some problems if Abby is still like she was last time. Clarke will be fine, but she and Abby clashed a lot with both of them being stubborn too," said the Commander.
"So us parents will have a problem with our families and the kids will be fine?" asked Rory.
"Not exactly. I think Sol will struggle with letting her sister find her own way too. I think it's because of the older sibling thing that she and Bellamy have. The fact that the younger siblings will be trying to assert their own independence, may cause trouble. We have a year to figure things out and if Raven can get her radio to work, then you can at least talk to your son."
"I know. I'm looking forward to hearing from him again. I don't like the fact that he thinks I was floated."
"It'll be fine, Rory. Once the shock has worn off, those up in the Ark can try and figure out what needs to be done to get everyone down when they need to be," the Commander said, stepping backward. "Well, I'll leave you to it, Rory and welcome to Earth." With that the Commander moved away.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Sol was looking through her pack as well, but she was trying to figure out how many of each item they needed. The flint/striker she'd gifted to Indra was one less she had. She'd keep two for herself - in case one broke - and the other one she'd give to the Commander. This wasn't tek so it should be okay. She had looked up which stones would be good to collect for making fires with. As long as she could find a good vein of flint and find some pyrite, then she could create small fire making kits as gifts for whomever the Commander wished. She'd also give some of the knives to the Commander too. It was a pity that they didn't have the co-ordinates of the big malls they used to have. It would be basically a one stop shop for anything they wanted. They could even turn some of the stores into housing if needed, but that would be moot if they couldn't find any. Sol knew it was going to be hard down here on the ground. They had to contend with things they had never had to deal with before. It wasn't just wild animals and having to hunt and forage for their food, it was things like the weather and dealing with finding enough warm clothing for winter, it was having to make things by hand instead of using machines, it was making peace with people you never knew existed. For the sky people on the ground, they'd already made peace and could see the benefit of working together instead of fighting the clans, but Sol knew those in charge on the Ark were not going to want to give that up. Somehow the Ark had become a fight for power instead of a fight for survival for all. Anya and Indra had offered them a place in Tondc for the winter, but they'd have to help build the hut. Their tents would not be enough to survive the bitterly cold winds nor the snow. Sometimes the snow was so deep, it came up to their chests. Sol didn't know what that would be like, but she knew they were in for a tough time.
She thought about talking to one of the healers about the bad weather. With them living in the Ark for all their lives, they'd never had to deal with changing temperatures and Sol was worried that they'd come down with influenza or something like that. She was worried that they were not mentally strong enough either. Maybe when Raven's radio was working, they could contact Abby and ask her about it. There were a lot of things to think about. Maybe the next day would open up some opportunites when they made contact with Monty.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
The following morning, Raven checked the radio and switched it on. Before she did anything else, she made sure that the radio was tuned to a higher frequency than the Ark could listen to - the frequency she used when calling Monty.
"Okay guys, here goes," she said, picking up the mike.
"Come in Monty, come in Monty, you there?" No answer.
"Come in Monty, come in Monty, are you there?" There was still no answer.
"This could take a while guys," Raven warned. Jake and Sol nodded and Rory was just waiting, hanging on for any kind of contact.
Raven kept repeating the message for five minutes then waited for ten minutes before trying again. As it was Saturday, she knew Monty wouldn't be at school. She hoped he was on his way to Raven's hidey hole.
An hour and a half later she tried once more. Jake said he would take over after the noon meal.
"Come in Monty, come in Monty, are you there?"
"Raven?" a voice said. All of the sky people jumped while any Trikru nearby, pulled their weapons at the unknown voice coming out of a box on the table.
"Yeah, Monty, we're here!"
"Oh, thank God! We were worried about you guys!"
"We landed just fine, Monty. We're all okay and safe."
"What about the others? We found out that Jake Griffin, Solange Armstrong and Aurora Blake were sent down as well."
Raven was surprised at their knowledge of who came down.
"How do you know who came down with me?" Raven asked.
"So they are down there? Good. The others will be happy that their loved ones are alive. Jake and Aurora have been listed as floated, so are you, Raven."
"No, we're here and alive. Look Monty, who did you mean when you said 'we'?"
"Oh, Abby Griffin, Bellamy Blake, myself, Harper McIntyre - my girlfriend by the way - Octavia Blake, Erin Armstrong and Clarke Griffin. The last three are in prison."
"So let me get this straight," said Raven, looking around at the others. There are seven of you who have figured it out and three of them are in prison?"
"Yup. It was like a chain at first. Erin learned some things from Sol, Erin told Octavia. Octavia told Bellamy. Bellamy found out about a list with your names on and saw that list. He told Octavia, she told Erin, Erin told Clarke and Clarke told Abby. Eventually Abby, me, Harper and Bellamy had a meeting to find out what each knows and learn something new."
"You have been busy," said Raven. Suddenly there was another voice.
"Hi, this is Harper, is my friend Sol there?"
Raven handed the mike to Sol.
"Hey, Harper,"
"Oh, it's so good to hear your voice."
"Yours too, Harper. Listen, was Erin thrown back into prison?"
"Yeah, probably about an hour after you were sent down."
"Those double crossing bastards!" Sol said. "Harper, are you visiting Erin?"
"Yeah, I thought I'd have to tell her that you'd been floated, but she told me you'd been sent down to the ground!"
"Yeah we were - with a defunct radio and trashed equipment."
"Monty here. Do you think they wanted you dead?"
"No idea, Monty, but if they did, why didn't they just float us up there?"
"Monty? This is Jake Griffin."
"Hey, Jake. Abby is gonna be pleased when I tell her I've talked to you!"
"Yeah, good, Monty. Look, do you know why I was arrested?"
"Yeah, Abby brought us up to date. She's going to a council meeting tomorrow. She's going to ask Jaha in front of the rest of them if you've made radio contact with them yet."
"God, I wonder what they'll say?" mused Raven.
"Can I talk to Aurora please? Bellamy would like to know I've spoken to her."
"I'm here, Monty. Down here I go by Rory."
"Rory? Okay, I'll tell him you're all fine and that I've spoken with you. Do any of you have messages for your loved ones?"
"Yeah. Tell both my kids that I love them and I'll be waiting for them to come down and that I'll give them both a big hug when I do," said Rory.
"Will do," said Monty.
"Harper? Can you tell the same to Erin?"
"Yeah, no problem," said Harper.
"Tell Abby and Clarke I love them and can't wait until they come down and I can see them."
"Yeah, okay Jake. No worries," said Monty again. "What about you Reyes? You got anything to say to me?"
"Yeah, get your ass off that desk and keep the area tidy. I didn't do all that for you to mess it up!" said Raven, grinning while she did. Sol and Harper could be heard laughing.
"I'm signing off now, I'll talk to you again tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Bye, Monty," Raven said and closed the radio down.