This chapter is okay I guess. I feel like it could be better and is one of the more boring ones in my opinion. I'm not sure what to do next chapter yet, but I'll think of something eventually.
It was early the next day when Jake approached me at Hometree. "Hey, John, can you meet some friends of mine later today?" he asked.
"Sure, where will they be?" I asked.
"You know our base, right?"
"Yeah, I know the place. "
"They'll be halfway between here and there at noon. Can you make it?"
"Yeah, I'll be there. "
"Thanks. I'll see you around. " He turned and left to meet Netiri for language lessons.
I stayed at Hometree until thirty minutes before noon, when I started walking to the meeting place. Once I was out of sight of Hometree, I flew just under the canopy to the meeting place, arriving a few minutes before three helicopters arrived in a mall clearing. As it was landing, the other Atlantians walked through the treeline into the clearing. Two Avatars exited one of the helicopters, while a total of about ten soldiers exited the other two choppers. They formed a half circle around us, guns pointed at the ground, but ready to fire at a moments notice.
I felt the others tense up behind me, but I waved at them to stand down. The Avatars approached, obviously unsure of what to think of us.
"I am Grace, and this is Norm, " One of the Avatars said in english, "We would like to ask you for your help in our efforts to negotiate with the Omaticaya since they trust you, but are still wary of us. "
"I am John. These beside me are Gabe, Ben, Abigail, Catherine, May, and Paul. What are you negotiating for?" I asked in english. I looked to my right and left and saw the others with bows at the ready, but no arrows knocked. I knew that they could knock, draw, aim, and shoot in just under a second.
"We are trying to get the Omaticaya to relocate their home to another place. "
"Why can't they remain where they are?"
"The leader at our camp wants to begin a mining operation there, and sent us to find a peaceful compromise. "
"I can tell you right now that you will fail. Nothing will convince them to move from their home. You can negotiate all you want, but they won't move with any bribe you can think of. " Knock an arrow, I thought, knowing ARC would send it to the others. They did so, causing the soldiers to look to each other uncertainly. I had my bow in my hand, and I knocked an arrow as well.
"We don't want any trouble, " Said Norm, holding his hands away from his body, showing he had no weapons.
"How do you know that the Omaticaya won't move?" Asked Grace, seemingly unfazed by the bows.
"They have told me themselves. When we first arrived, they let us live with them. We did not negotiate, we told them what we needed, and they were able to help us. "
"How long ago has it been since you arrived here?"
"About 8 years. "
"What did you need?"
"To survive. "
After talking a bit longer, they came to the conclusion that we weren't going to help them much. As they were going to leave I asked them to take me to the man who sent them. They agreed, but could only take three of us, so me, Paul, and May boarded the helicopter with the Avatars and went to the human base. The helicopter we were on landed inside the wall while the other two went to the main hangar. The Avatars went to a gazebo type building and laid down on cota inside.
A few minutes later Norm and Grace came out of the building, not in Avatar bodies. They waved us over and we followed them. They led us to the control room I had been in last night, where Miles and Parker were looking at the holoprojector, which showed a geological survey of Hometree, showing a large concentration of ore directly underneath it. As we approached, they quickly changed it to a map of the area.
"Parker, these are three of those other people Jale saw at Hometree. "
"The ones that came from somewhere else?" Parker asked.
"Yes, those ones. "
Miles was standing at the holoprojector still, but Parker approached me. "What are your names? You have names, right?"
"I am John, this is Paul and May. "
"Oh good, some names that are pronounceable. Why did you want to see me?"
I was instantly annoyed by his attitude, but I didn't show it and instead continued to keep a straight face. "I am here to inform you that you will fail and that you should just save yourself some money and go back to earth right now. "
"Oh really? Well then, I guess we better go packing up everything just because some dude living in the woods told us to go home. "
I didn't respond.
"Now, what I want to know, is how you got the Omaticaya to accept you. Then, once we know that, we can use it and prove you wrong. "
"We are not equal to the Omaticaya. They helped us when we needed them, and we will help them when they need us. "
"Okay then, we need them to move, so you go tell them that, and maybe we can help them find a new tree to live in. "
My hand started to drift to my knife handle. "They will not leave their home. They helped us because all we needed was knowledge of the world. "
"So you won't help us?" Miles said, finally speaking up.
"I will not help you when you are doomed to fail. "
"Well then I don't see why you're still here. Johnson will take you back to where he picked you up. If you change your mind, you know where we are. "
"Save yourself some trouble and lives, and go back to earth now. " I said as I left for the main hangar with Paul and May and we boarded the helicopter that had taken us here. The pilot flew us back to the meeting place and dropped us off. The others had already returned to Hometree. We left the clearing and flew back to Hometree once we were out of sight of the helicopter. Before we had left the base, I had attached several tracking devices to various vehicles. Once I got back, I filled in the others on what had happened.