This one's a littl elonger than usual. enjoy. Samdagger.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Chapter 11
He sat back when he finished reading the last of the files on the five people Clarke had mentioned. He was in shock. Both Katie Stano and Justin Giles could prove they were nowhere near the places they were accused of burgling. This was definately a setup for those two. Lisa Warren and Spencer Mill had both been in the areas in question, but again, there was no proof that either of them had been guilty of their crimes. Murphy had admitted that he'd set a guards quarters on fire. The arresting officer had been the same one that had arrested his father - both on the authority of Shumway!
Now he had to decide what to do about them. Did he have all the corrupt guards arrested? If so, what did he do with them? Put them in the skybox or hold a trial and then float them all? He didn't know. This was a conspiracy that seemed to stretch further than he knew. He was a bit ashamed that he'd had no clue it was happening.
He made one decision. He'd ask Clarke about those five and ask if Murphy would be amenable to their plans. With his mind made up, he went to see Clarke. He showed her the files and the evidence and Clarke was furious. She did agree with Kane about seeing if they could wake up Murphy, but because he'd admitted to the crime, he would still need to be held as a prisoner. That would be the tricky part - wanting his help, but keeping him a prisoner. Clarke had said that once he was woken up to remember the last time, he may be able to help.
He went to the prison and pulled Murphy into an interview room.
"Why am I here?" Murphy asked, belligerently.
"Because I need your help," Kane said, putting a file on the table.
"MY help?" Murphy asked, surprised and curious.
"Yes. Jaha was arrested and is currently being held in solitary confinement. He was stripped of his position as Chancellor because he was making plans to save his people and let the rest die up here. I've stopped that, but his guards are still free. I found a list of his guards this morning when I searched his office. The guard who arrested both you and your father was one of Jaha's guards. I've found another list of everyone on the Ark. Some of the names had been crossed out and others had a question mark beside their names. I think those with a question mark are to be arrested and either floated or held until their 18th birthday." Murphy's eyebrows raised in surprise, but he kept quiet.
"There is another list. A list of all the kids in lockup. Each one has a date beside their names. I checked the arrest dates of some of them and they match. But the worst is that some of those dates are in the future. Each one has a crime beside their name. I have no doubt that those kids would be accused of those crimes on those dates and they would be put in lockup, no matter what they say."
Murphy sat upright and leaned forward, anger evident on his face.
"Is he fucking serious? He's deliberately setting up kids and having them arrested to float them?" Murphy was almost shouting, but kept his voice even and under control.
"I'm afraid so."
"So what does this have to do with me?"
"I have no idea where in Jaha's office he'd hide the things he really didn't want found. What I have found is very incriminating and will get him floated, but I want to know the extent of this conspiracy. I want to know everyone involved in it!"
"Still waiting to hear how I'm involved in this."
"I need you to find those hidden places."
"What's in it for me?"
"At the moment, nothing. You admitted your crime. I can't let you go because I need those guards to remain ignorant of what I'm doing."
"So why should I help you?" Kane hesitated and then leaned forward.
"Emori," he said. Murphy sat back, eyes wide as the memories flooded into his mind.
"Shit!" he said. "I remember!"
"Yes. We all went through that, Murphy, but I still need your help."
"Who's 'we'?"
"Me, Clarke, Raven and Octavia."
"No-one else?"
"No. Now can you help me?"
"I'm in prison, Kane, how am I supposed to help you?"
"I'm going to pull you into an interview room on the pretext of questioning you some more."
"Kane, you do that and they'd figure you know something!"
"Not if they don't know. There's a secret way to my new office from the prison. I can't get you out of the general population, but pulling you into one of these rooms will seem like I'm interrogating you." Murphy looked sceptical. "Trust me, these rooms used to be part of the maintenance corridors of the old station before it was converted into a prison. I'll pull you into the last room and from there, we'll take to the tunnels to get there. It'll be about six minutes to get there. I can't have you there for more than about ten minutes, but we could do this several times if needed."
"I'm in," said Murphy after some consideration. "When do we start?"
"As soon as I've got a loyal guard on my side I can trust," Kane replied, sighing.
"Heavy lies the crown," said Murphy, smirking.
"Yes it does," said Kane with fervour.
"What about David Miller? His son's in here."
"I'll ask Clarke," Kane said. Murphy looked at him.
"What else is going on, Kane. This didn't happen last time."
"A lot didn't happen last time. Jaha and I sent four people to the ground." Murphy was surprised.
"Who?"
"Raven Reyes, Solange Armstrong, Aurora Blake and Jake Griffin."
"The Blakes and Clarke's parents?!"
"Yes. I had no idea of Jaha's true personality then, but we sent them down to see if the air was survivable."
"Why those four?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. Aurora and Jake were due to be floated. Raven volunteered to pilot the ship when Jaha told her it would be a deadfall launch. Solange, or Sol as she prefers to be called was 17. Jaha made a deal with her. She went to Earth as the bodyguard to two scientists who had yet to be chosen, and her sister would be set free from lockup."
"A sister? Wait, there's another second child?"
"Yes and she's the same age as Octavia. Sol took the deal. She watched as Erin was set free and then she was put aboard the small ship. What I didn't know was that almost as soon as the ship had launched, Erin was re-arrested on the orders of Jaha and put back in prison."
"Jaha always was a dick. He should have died on the Ark the first time and then all that crap with ALIE wouldn't have happened!"
"He will be this time, I just have to find the extent of his treachery."
"Make sure you do, Kane. This time around, he seems more ruthless."
"Will do. Now, I'd better get you back to your cell. I'll have you brought to the end room in a few days." Murphy nodded and Kane got up and left.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
On the ground
Sol and Jake had dug out the red entrance to the underground rail system under Dupont Circle. It had taken two days to properly excavate and dig it out as some rubbish had been thrown into it before the bombs fell. Now they were ready to explore it. They picked up their flashlight and slowly moved down the steps, testing them as they went. They reached the bottom and saw old signs for railway platforms. One to the left and one to the right. Jake pointed left so Sol went left. They moved down a tunnel and noticed mirrors on the walls that were moveable. Strange, thought Sol. They moved on to the end of the short tunnel and came out onto a platform. Playing their lights around, they saw some sculptures that had most likely been on display when the bombs fell.
Sol moved along the platform, looking at the walls to see if there was a hidden door. She walked the length of the platform and then looked at the other. She looked for a way to it, but soon saw that she'd have to jump down onto where the tracks had been and then climb up the other side.
"Jake, see any steps down to the lower area?" she asked.
"Not yet," Jake answered. Sol sighed and making sure the area was clear, she jumped down. She looked at the sides of the platforms and moved closer. She walked the length of the platform, searching for anything that would give her a clue about where the door could be. She moved to the other platform and checked the side of it. Once again she was walking along, checking for the door when Jake called out.
"Hey, Sol, there're more of those mirrors along this side of the platform and on the other." Sol shone her light upwards and saw them. A lot of them in fact, all lined up. Sol frowned as something was nagging her about them. She couldn't quite pin it down, but something about them had caught her eye, she just had to figure out what it was. She went back to checking the sides of the platform. She was almost at the end when she saw a small recess. It was dark and if she wasn't shining her light directly at it, she'd have missed it. She looked closer and saw a small indentation in the shape of a cat. That too, nagged at her. She'd seen that cat somewhere before.
"Hey, Jake, you seen anything that looks like a cat? A picture or sculpture or anything?"
"No, nothing, why?"
"There's a recess with an indentation shaped like a cat and I'm sure I've seen it before."
"Maybe in your family chest? You said your ancestors had left some things in there." Sol's eyes widened.
"Of course!" she exclaimed. "There's a ring in the box with that cat on it!" she said, excitedly.
"I think we need to go back and take a look at the rest of the clues," said Jake.
"Me too," said Sol, grinning. They packed up their supplies and equipment and went back to Tondc.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
"Hey, you two," said Rory, as she hobbled about on her improvised crutches.
"Glad to see you up and about, Rory," said Jake.
"Yeah, how's the leg?"
"Sore, but healing, thanks to Nyko." There was a hint of a glint in Rory's eyes as she mentioned him and Sol wondered if she even knew about it. "What are you going to do now?"
"We found the underground entrance, dug it out and went inside. There's a recess with an indentation on it. I think my ancestor placed it there because the indent's the same design as one of my rings."
"Really!?" said Rory, smiling at the discovery.
"Yup, we need to go over the clues again and figure out the ones we don't have answers for yet."
"Where's Raven?" Jake asked, looking around.
"Off with some warriors somewhere learning how to set traps."
Sol shrugged when Jake turned to her. She went to her tent and got the box and sat down on her bed. She pulled out the maps and put them aside while she searched for the ring. She found it and opened the box. There inside was a plain gold ring with what had always looked to her like one of those cameo brooches, but with a cat instead of a person, and carved out of the stone itself. Sol didn't know what the blackish-grey stone was. It was either slate, shale or coal in her opinion. Didn't really matter now, she'd found the place it was meant to go. She pulled up her great great great grandfather's journal and started reading it from the beginning. She was near the end when she saw a quotation. 'Through the darkness to the cat, the light will shine'. She thought about it. That didn't sound like a quotation from a book or anything. It didn't even make sense. She put it down and picked up his son's journal.
One by one she read them all. Writing down pertinent points or clues or the odd bits and pieces that didn't seem to make sense, like that quotation. She finally picked up her father's journal and started to read it. She'd been dreading it because she remembered him writing in the journal in the evenings while she played with her toys. It was an iconic image of her father as he sat in his chair and wrote. He'd often stop and look over at Sol and Erin and smile, then go back to writing.
She came to the part about the Lincoln memorial and noticed that there was a reference to a basement under the memorial. It had been built to withstand the massive weight of the marble the memorial was built from. According to her father, it was about 40,000 square feet and had been closed and forgotten for a long time. Sol wondered if it was accessible through the Dupont entrance. How far was it from the Dupont circle entrance to the memorial? Sol picked up the Washington DC area map and looked at the distance. 2.7 miles. That was a long way to tunnel. Maybe there was a hidden entrance under the memorial and that was what her father was searching for. Sol didn't know. She went outside with her findings and asked if it made sense to the others. Jake asked about the clues. Were they supposed to be in any particular order? What was the significance of them? Were there any more that she'd missed?
Raven came back with a big grin on her face.
"That was awesome!" she said, excitedly.
"What was?" asked Rory.
"I made a trap and managed to catch three birds in it at once!"
"So we are having bird tonight?" Sol asked. Raven nodded.
"What are you three up to?"
"Checking the clues. We found a place I think is the entry point, but we need to work out the clues first," said Sol.
"You did?" said Raven, surprised.
"Yeah, we just need to figure out these clues. Some of them we think we know what they mean, like the first clue is: 'Sic transit gloria mundi', which Jake says means 'thus passes the glory of the world'."
"That's a heavy statement," said Raven, contemplating on the meaning.
"I know," sighed Sol. "I think each time a major war was won, that saying was used."
"So, what's the next clue?"
"Clue 2: Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king."
"What does that mean?" asked Raven.
"Well, Indra said that the herald angels sing means the morning birdsong. Hark is an old word meaning listen, to basically listen to or for the dawn chorus," Sol explained.
"And the newborn king bit?"
"That's a bit more… hypothetical. There is a story my mom told me about how the sun and moon came to be. I think it was probably one of those cultural myths from a different country or people. Sol was a guy who kept chasing a woman called Luna. To get away from him she went to the sky and became the moon. He followed and became the sun, forever chasing her."
"That's...dark," Raven said.
"Yeah, but if the bird's song heralds a new day, then that means when dawn is breaking, right? 'Glory to the newborn king.'"
"Because the sun was seen as male, each day is a newborn king?" asked Raven, grappling with it.
"That's what I think it means, but I could be wrong."
"It seems plausible to me," said Jake.
"Any more clues?" asked Raven, sitting with her chin on her fist and her elbow on her knee.
"Clue 3: 'The circle goes under, the ring is the key'." Raven frowned some more until she got it.
"That place you were searching for was under Dupont circle. Okay got that part. But the ring part?"
"One of my ancestors left a family heirloom. A ring - in the same design as the place I found. I think the ring is needed to open it."
"Alright, so we have the warning of the end of the world as they knew it, a clue to listen for morning birdsong, a clue about where an entrance is and how to access it, right?" Raven reasoned out.
"Any more clues?" asked Rory.
"Clue 4 is something my dad was trying to figure out, but there's nothing in any of the journals that say the Lincoln Memorial was important. In fact, apart from dad's journal, it isn't mentioned at all."
"Think your dad found something that he kept out of the family chest?"
"I doubt it. You know Ark rules as well as anyone, Jake. Family chests and their contents belong with the family. Anything found outside the chest is fair game when it comes to reclamation." Jake nodded, playing with his watch, which was a family heirloom.
"There's not much dad wrote about it except that underneath the Lincoln Memorial there's a huge basement covering over 40,000 square feet."
"Could be used as a shelter from a storm or something, but I doubt it's been turned into a nuclear shelter," Jake said.
"I doubt it too,'' said Sol.
"So any more?" asked Raven.
"Last clue is one I just found. 'Through the darkness to the cat, the light will shine'."
Jake sat up straight.
"I think I know what that means!" he said, almost breathless.
"What?" asked all three.
"Sol, remember those mirrors we kept seeing everywhere?"
"Yeah?" said Sol, frowning.
"If we move those mirrors to the right positions, then I think the light of dawn will bounce off each mirror until it reaches that indentation you found!" Sol inhaled sharply, thinking it through.
"I think you're right!"
"So... what?" asked Raven, confused. Sol turned to her.
"We need to move some mirrors and if we get it right, at dawn when the sun hits the first mirror, it'll bounce the sunlight all the way through the tunnel and onto the platforms and down to the cat recess!"
"Is there anything in there about what date or time of year you need to do this?" Sol thought about it but couldn't come up with anything.
"Not that I can think of. Jake, could you read the journals for anything I may have missed?"
"Sure," he said.
"And can you not tell anyone else about what you read? Some of it is personal and some is family related. I don't want our family business getting out there where anyone can comment on it." Jake knew Sol wasn't trying to be unkind. It was just that after so long on the Ark, family feuds could get out of hand when others find things out. Jake nodded.
"I promise not to talk to anyone about this, including my own family."
"Thank you, Jake."
On the Ark
Murphy was escorted to the interview room by another guard. One of Kane's guards stood watch outside. Kane nodded to Murphy and went to the hidden section of the wall, pulled it open and waved Murphy into it. Kane climbed in afterwards and replaced the panel. Kane then quietly led Murphy to the Chancellor's office. Once inside the room, Kane told him where he'd found things and what he thought was missing.
"There's got to be other files or data that he doesn't want found, John. The files I found are incriminating, but it can't be all he has, it's not enough, there has to be more." Murphy nodded and went and stood in the centre of the room. He looked around and catalogued everything he could see. Filing cabinets were too obvious, but if he couldn't find anything else, he'd look there. Desk? No, Kane already cleared that. Sofa? He wandered over to it. It wasn't the standard crap everyone else not of the elite had, so he examined it carefully. He noticed a tiny piece of fabric sticking out from under a cushion. He moved the cushion and looked at the tiny scrap. It was the same material and colour of the sofa but something about it didn't sit right with Murphy. He pulled on it and more fabric came out of a tiny gap between arm and seat. He moved over and looked closely at the gap, spotting where it had been deliberately cut. He pulled on the fabric once more and the whole of the seat came up. He looked inside and saw a couple of files. He pulled them out and handed them to Kane who quickly perused them while Murphy went back to check other items of furniture out.
Murphy turned his attention to the side table. It looked like the standard table of any other in the Ark, but this one had an apron, a small decorative edge underneath the top, holding the legs and top together. He looked at that more closely and felt under it. He noticed that there was a small discrepancy in depth. The apron was maybe two inches down and the tabletop seemed to be only one inch down instead. Murphy looked around and picked up a flashlight, switched it on and shone it along the length of the apron. He was looking for small differences in design or form. He checked all sides and finally found one that was slightly different. He pressed on that part of the apron and a secret draw sprung open. Murphy smiled to himself and pulled out other files. Murphy was in his element. He was enjoying himself immensely.
He went to the huge fake fireplace. Really? A fake fireplace on a space station? A more gaudy ostentation Murphy had yet to see. Ego, it was pure ego. He shook his head and checked all along the decorations and artwork before trying the fake hearth. Inside, he checked where the 'chimney' was and discovered another hiding place. Man, Jaha was so paranoid!
Kane called a halt after that and took him back to the interview room. Once back in his new office, Kane sat down and started to read the first of the twelve files Murphy had found.
Kane sat back after a couple of hours. He'd only read four files, but they were bad enough. They showed corruption going back all the way to the war. One had a list of each member of their little cabal, while another listed their deeds, as they called them. There was even a good deed of the day in which they would choose who to float next! Kane was sickened. The only good thing was that the Griffins weren't part of it. Neither Jake nor Abby were trusted by any of the Chancellors or councillors on that list. The plans drawn up by Jaha to float people was just a continuation of that cabal. He found a list of founding members too. With the list, Kane was sure he'd be able to identify most of Jaha's people - after all, it was handed down from parent to child. Jaha, Shumway, Sydney and Pike were just four of the names of the founding members.
He went back on duty in the command centre and mused over what he'd found and what he could find. He'd hidden the files in another place - the secret panel - and left. He knew that Shumway was capable of breaking the law for his own needs, so he had no doubt that now a non-cabal member was in charge, he'd try to destroy any incriminating evidence. This was a mess he didn't need!
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
On the ground
Jake read through the journals and looked at the maps. He didn't want to read the personal letters so he left them aside while he tried to figure out the clues as well. He'd helped Sol with them, but he hadn't read the source material. He was looking at it from an outsider's perspective, one not part of the family legacy, handed down to each generation. He didn't find anything, but he knew the light would only shine into the tunnel at a certain time of the year. If they'd missed it, they would probably have to wait at least another six months. There must be another clue in the journals - or the personal letters. Jake sighed and picked them up. He took a deep breath and opened the first one. Dated 15 June 1986! How long had they been doing this?
To my darling wife,
I've been missing you terribly these last few months. I know we've only been married a year, but I miss you so much. I hope your morning sickness has now passed and you can enjoy your days again. The weather is so lovely over here in Virginia. I do hope the weather is fine in Baltimore. My commanding officer had offered me a place on one of the research teams and I've decided to join them. It would ease your worries about me being sent into a war zone as part of a peacekeeping force and with our first child due in five months, I do hope to be there for the birth. I don't care if it's a boy or a girl, just know I'll love you both so, so much. I'll be home on leave next month before I have to start my new job. See you soon.
I give you my heart.
Love, as always
Richard. XXX
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Jake set that one aside and picked up another. Dated 1st June 1987.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
My darling,
I've been working hard so that I can come home to you on leave for the summer solstice. I can't wait for our first son to be born on that day. I hope he's born at dawn to see in the new era. This is a fresh start for us and our family. I'd like to call him James after my father, if that's okay? I've been thinking about his name and I believe it should be a strong one. Several kings of England and Scotland were called James, so I think it would be a good name to consider. I know you want to call him something that has a strong name and James means supplanter - someone who follows - but I think it's still a good name for him. If you still don't want to, we'll talk about baby names when I come home on leave. We'll pick a good name out together.
I'm getting more responsibility in my new job, which is something I love. I'm basically helping to keep America safe and that's all anyone can ask of us. That's the job we signed up to do, I'm just doing it without having to leave this beautiful land.
"I'll be home in a couple of weeks, I'll let you know the exact date when I get it.
"I love you,
Richard.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Jake was about to set it aside when something caught his attention. It was dated in June 1987, but in the previous letter, he'd said his son was due in November 1986! Jake picked up both letters and rushed out of the tent.
"Sol!" he called across the camp. Sol turned her head. Jake came rushing up.
"Look!" he said, pointing to the date of the first letter. "This says June 1986. He says in the letter that his son is due to be born in five months time, that's November! But in this second letter, dated June 1987, he says he's looking forward to the birth of his first son!" Sol looked at him in confusion. "Don't you see! The letters are a year apart, so how could his first born son be born more than a year after his wife gets pregnant?" Sol's eyes widened.
"Shit!" she said, "how did I miss that?!"
"Don't know, but I'm going to read the rest and see what I find," Jake said, grinning. Sol nodded and returned his grin. Jake returned to the tent and pulled out another letter. Dated 3rd June 1988.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Darling,
I'm sorry I couldn't get away for summer solstice this year, but don't be sad. Our son was born during it and I'm so happy for you and our child. I'll see you as soon as I can and I'll try to be home to celebrate his birthday. So sometime on either 20th, 21st or the 22nd of June will be a celebration of both the summer solstice and our son's birthday. I hope to light up his life on those days.
I'm still working hard and enjoying my job, I just miss you so much when I'm doing it. Never mind, we'll be together soon.
Love
RIchard
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
3rd June 1988. Jake wondered if all the letters were from June of each year. He'd have to read each one, but there seemed to be a date in there. Summer solstice. Jake wondered what season it was and went to ask one of the Trikru. It was summer. When Jake asked what month it was, the Trikru warrior told him that they don't track the months, just the seasons. Jake thanked him and wandered over to Sol and Raven.
"I think we need to be in place at the summer solstice which is around 20 - 22 of June each year. This is summer now so I think we've missed it, but we need to make sure. Raven, can you call on your radio and ask whoever's there to get us a date, please?"
"Sure," said Raven, going to her tent and firing up the radio. She came back with the answer.
"It's July 8th 2147."
"Crap! We'll have to wait another year!"
"It's okay. We have time. We need to make sure that we still have peace then. If the air supply is failing again, we need them down here in an orderly fashion. We need to make sure that either Farm station's nav system is fixed or find a way to get them down without landing in Azgeda," said Raven, forgetting that the others had been dead by the time they dropped.
"Why?" asked Sol.
"Because Farm Station lands in Azgeda territory and they are not nice people. They are led by a queen who seems to be a psychopathic, homicidal maniac with narcissistic and torture tendencies," Raven said. "She's a kill-them-first-ask-questions-later kind of person."
"Oh, that's just great!" said Sol. "She's going to have them killed just because they land in her territory?"
"Yep, and she won't play nice in any negotiations either. Oh, she's very good at pretending, but she'll kill you as soon as look at you if she's in the mood."
"Fucking brilliant!" Sol said. "How can we avert that?"
"Well, we could get someone to fix the nav system, the problem with that is both the best Mechanical Engineers are down here," Raven said with a smirk.
"Sinclair would have taken over, but he's more in line with Jaha just because he's the Chancellor. Wick may be a good alternative," Jake said.
"Yeah, but Wick can't do anything without Sinclair telling him he can," Raven explained.
"What else could we do?"
"Empty out Farm station and leave it up there, or put them in a ship and send them down," Raven theorised. "There's another problem with that though, Charles Pike became the leader of Farm once they'd landed and because Azgeda grounders were the ones killing them, Pike believes ALL grounders need to die. He's xenophobic and hates anyone not like him."
"How bad did it get?" asked Jake.
"He became Chancellor in a duly elected way and immediately imprisoned those who were against his rule and all grounders, including Lincoln, Octavia's lifemate. Pike - with Bellamy Blake as his second in command, executed all grounders. Bellamy stood aside and watched when Pike put his gun to Lincoln's head and pulled the trigger. If you ever want a division between those two, Lincoln is the way to do it. She never forgave him for that."
"Shit!" exclaimed Sol.
"Oh, it gets worse," Raven warned. "Pike and Bellamy, under cover of night, took a group of his sycophants and slaughtered all but Indra. The grounder army was outside the walls as a protection army. The Ice queen - Azgeda - was making threats to kill all Skaikru so Commander Lexa sent Indra and 300 warriors to protect them. Those warriors were sleeping and they were slaughtered, all because he hates grounders." Jake and Sol were appalled. "Wait, there's more."
"How much more?"
"Don't ask. I'll just say that Hannah Green, Monty's mom, was one of the survivors of Farm station. Unfortunately, she was a female version of Pike - kill them all. She held a gun on Clarke and was about to shoot her when Monty came upon them. He killed his mother to save Clarke."
"Crap! Was it all like that? Nothing but war and betrayal?" asked Sol.
"No. There were some good times too, but the first time, we all screwed up. Abby became a dictator, Clarke became Wanheda - which means the Commander of Death - for the amount of people she'd killed in her short time on the ground, Finn Collins, my then boyfriend, slept with Clarke before I came down and didn't tell her he was already taken. In the end, he went crazy. The ground broke him and he ended up shooting 18 people in Tondc. Those people were already his prisoners, but he was convinced that they had taken Clarke and he was determined to find her. He killed men, women and children. Most of those adults were old people. I didn't see it at the time, but looking back on it, I can see that Finn was responsible for his own actions. I blamed Clarke and the Commander for his death. I didn't believe he needed to die and even called Clarke a murderer and told her that murderers should be floated. I refused to acknowledge that Finn had committed murder by telling myself he only did it to find Clarke. I was the biggest hypocrite around!"
"What about the clans?" asked Jake.
"Oh, the Commander made an alliance with us only to break that alliance to get her people out of Mount Weather. She got her people out, but left ours in there to be drilled for our bone marrow, killing us in the process. It was the mountain men's way out of there and they were going to take it - by force."
"So this time around, we're only lucky because they and you remember?" asked Sol.
"Essentially. I think we all need to do better. We need to start by helping the clans and by finding a place for those on the Ark to live in peace. Some of us want to live with the Trikru, but we're not sure how the Arkers will react."
"You said a few days ago that 100 kids in lockup came down first in another year from now. Will they still come down?"
"Doubt it. I think the adults up there will send some guards and more qualified people down first. They're probably under the notion that they'll be in charge when they come down. They won't. Commander Lexa will only acknowledge Clarke as our leader. Abby and Kane will have to abide by that."
"I'll talk to my wife about that when the time comes, but what if those kids come down?"
"Then we show the Ark and the grounders what we're made of. We are a transitional group, Jake. We were of the Ark, but we'd not been institutionalised by it yet. We wanted to live in peace, but we'd accidentally invaded their lands. Bellamy never got that. He decided that because we landed on Earth, whatever land we came down on was ours. He was the one who was most vocal in killing them. I think that's why he fell in with Pike. Pike gave him the green light to kill the grounders."
"Why did he hate them so much?"
"No idea. Jasper was speared by one of them, but then again, we tortured one of theirs, Lincoln. Bellamy suffered from the same ailment Abby does, they're not really humans, they're savages so it's okay to kill them and do nothing about it, but if one of them hurts one of ours, then they should be killed as a lesson in what happens if you mess with them. Neither of them got the message that they were NOT at the top of the food chain. Just because we had guns, did not make us better than the grounders, it just made the Arkers arrogant. Abby never saw any of them as people, just their actions. Abby was a hypocrite, Jake. She pardoned Finn for murdering 18 of them, but she wanted to kill them for leaving her out of the chain of command."
"So we have to make sure that those kids come down first. That would create a base, a buffer, between the clans and the Arkers," said Sol, thinking hard. "We keep Bellamy and Abby away from any type of Command and we need a way to stop Pike and his cronies, too."
"Yep," said Raven, sighing.
"We have so much to do and none of it down here," Sol said, sighing.
"Tell me about it. Clarke, Octavia and Erin are no longer in the Skybox, so they wouldn't be sent down."
"No, we need them down here. Bellamy needs to stay up there, but we need Octavia if she's the bridge between us and them and Clarke if she's our leader," Sol commented. Raven nodded.
"Abby won't like that. With me already down here, she'll try to keep Clarke with her."
"Yeah, I know," said Raven. "Maybe she can get herself re-arrested?"
"Good luck with that," Jake said, laughing. "Have you met my wife?" All three burst out laughing.
"So what do we do?"
"We contact Clarke and explain the situation to her. She can tell Kane and between the two of them, they should be able to get Clarke to the ground with the others. I think we need Octavia and Erin down here too," Raven explained.
"Okay.
"We need to set it up," said Jake.
"Can they come down sooner?" asked Sol.
"Don't see why not," said Jake. "I mean, Kane already knows about the air supply so it's not a secret, and he knows about the first time, so he'll know what's needed."
"Okay, then we tell him to send those kids down as soon as he can." Raven stopped as she thought of something. "Half the kids sent down won't have committed their crime yet. We can't have them come down yet." Raven's shoulders slumped. "Dammit! I wanted them down and safe."
"What if he sends down those already in lock-up? That way no-one else gets floated for turning 18 and they're also not breathing air the others need," said Sol.
"It would save some of them, but we don't know who they are or what they're in for. If they come down, then I won't know who would help and who would hinder."
"Oh," said Sol, subdued.
"It's not a bad idea, but we need to think about it some more," Jake said, placating them.
"So what now?" asked Raven.
"We wait," said Jake.
"For what?"
"For the summer solstice next year."
"Jake, I'm not waiting for a year!" said Raven. "There must be something we could do." Sol sat up suddenly.
"Oohhh!" she said, suddenly thinking of something.
"What?" said both Raven and Jake.
"We may not need to wait a year. What about if we could find some high-powered spotlights and use those to simulate the sun? Would that work?" Both of them thought about it and both came to the same conclusion. It was worth it even if it didn't work.
"We'd have a problem that we don't know the exact position of the sun on the summer solstice. Is it low on the horizon in the same place each year?"
"Don't know. I think we have to contact the Ark, or at least my radio and ask someone to check the library for any records on the subject."
"That's going to be a weird request. They'd want to know why."
"Our people could keep their mouths shut, Sol."
"Are you sure? No offense, Jake but if what Raven says is true, then Abby may not be able to. She may decide to tell them that we've found an underground bunker they can live in."
"We tell those who remember the second life and were part of the hundred," Raven said, not really debating it, more making a decision.
"So, Clarke and Octavia?"
"Yeah. I wonder if anyone else knows?"
"You mean remembers?"
Yeah. What if one of the other hundred finds their recall word and they remember what happened?"
"No idea. I wasn't part of the hundred, so I don't know who was sent down."
"It's weird, you know, you were not part of us then, but you are now. Last time, Erin wasn't discovered, but you both died when Factory came down. That won't happen this time. I wonder who else will survive?"
"Rory and I survived. I hope a lot more do too," said Jake, smiling.
"I think it's more a question of how many they can bring down in the ships. If they can bring a lot down in them, then we could empty out most of the stations and put them in which ones were least damaged in the fall to Earth," Sol said.
"Good idea. We'll run that by Kane. Hopefully he'll go for it - I think Jake should tell him, he may take it better from you."
"Okay," said Jake.
"Well, I'm off to see Rory," said Raven. "She's learning how to make Trikru clothing. I think now she's found something akin to her old job, she's happier." Raven left and Sol turned to Jake.
"It also may be that she fancies Nyko that's putting a smile on her face." Jake smirked then laughed.