Chapter 9
Over the next couple of weeks, Troy and the others practised filling containers with sand to see how much Troy could lift. Even with a full load of sand, he could lift the biggest of the containers, a forty foot container. They began filling the ten containers Troy had brought over. Troy would move one full container a day and have at least one rest day between. With that much sand moved, they were beginning to see the ground level on the oceanfront. They had moved the sand back a quarter of a mile over the land and had found a place to put some lines out - not many, but enough for them to try line fishing. They put them out during the low tide at night and picked them back up the following low tide during the day.
The first line had twenty hooks on it and they caught eight fish and the second one, further along, had ten hooks and six fish. They were pleased to see they were catching more fish like that, but knew they'd have to vary their line fishing places. Luna had warned them that while fish were slow to figure things out, they eventually did and stayed away from places they were constantly caught at. Wells and Megan were already moving their fishing place up and down the airport side of the oceanfront.
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Several days later, a contingent of Trikru came towards them. Wells was on duty and saw them way before they saw him.
"Visitors!" he called out to Drew who was below him digging out another part of the sand away from the windows. He stuck his shovel into the sand and went inside to tell the others. Clarke, Atom, Bellamy and Idona went to see who was coming to call on them.
"Guys, that's the Commander!" Wells said in surprise.
"Bellamy, go make sure everyone's behaving and keep goodies out of view," Clarke said. Bellamy took off running to get everything sorted before the Commander got there.
"Greetings, Commander," Clarke called out as soon as they were close enough. Bellamy came back with a covered jug and cups. He'd gotten some cold water from the tank for them.
The Commander and her entourage got off the horses and Drew stepped forward and guided the others towards the shelters they'd put up for the horses to stay out of the sun.
"Welcome to Fairsands, Commander," Clarke said. "Would you like a drink of water?" The Commander nodded and soon, Idona had the water poured and offered it to the Commander. Her bodyguard, Gustus took it and sampled it first before passing it to the Commander. She took a sip and was shocked that it was cold!
"How?" she asked.
"Idona made a container watertight and then we buried it deep in the sand where it's always cold. We filled it up with water and now we have cold water all the time. We want to offer another one to the Sangedakru Heda. One of his people wished they had a pond near their settlement. If we can make a trade with them, we can help them bury tanks in the sand and then all they need to do is make sure they stay full - or at least full enough for their needs, Commander," Clarke said.
"Was it easy to do?"
"No, it was extremely hard work. It took all of us digging out the sand before placing the tank." The Commander nodded.
"I have come here to talk to you about the mountain. We wish to see if you could help us in getting our people out of there."
"If you'd follow me, Commander, we can go somewhere out of the sun to discuss it," Clarke said. The Commander nodded and Clarke led them to one of the smaller lounges they'd made on the top floor.
"Commander," Clarke said, gesturing to the seats available. The Commander took a seat in the corner nearest to the door with Gustus standing beside her, ready to stop anyone from harming the Commander. The others took seats where they could.
"How can we help you, Commander?" Clarke asked politely.
"You once told me that you knew of Mount Weather and the monsters inside it. We want our people out of there but we don't know how."
"What can you tell us of them?"
"They take our people and we never see them again except for a few of them who are turned into some kind of monster that doesn't recognise us and take some of us back into the mountain."
"They have the same technology as us?"
"Sha, but they cannot leave the mountain unless in a red suit."
"Radiation suit, most likely," Bellamy said. Clarke nodded.
"If they can't metabolise the radiation, it would kill them to come outside without one."
"We need Intel, Clarke," Idona said.
"I know, but I don't like putting anyone in danger."
"We need Miller in here to discuss this," Idona said. "He can turn invisible and is the one with the best chance of scouting the mountain without being detected." Clarke nodded.
"Go get him." Idona got up and left.
"If they use technology, do they have cameras up outside?" Bellamy asked.
"What are those?"
"Machines that can see you and then send that information back to the mountain. With it they know where you are or where you've been if they are only near their mountain," Clarke replied.
"They can see us?"
"More than likely,'' Clarke said. "Do they come out of the mountain if they find you near it?"
"Sometimes reapers come out but sometimes an acid fog is seen. It is deadly to anyone who is caught in it," the Commander said.
"Then I'd feel better if Troy went with him. Problem is that Miller needs to touch someone to make them invisible too."
"What if we can find those cameras and put them out of commission?" Atom said.
"How?"
"Megan," Atom replied. Clarke thought about it.
"Alright, I see what you're getting at, but she too would be subject to the same conditions."
"I know. I was thinking if Miller and Megan went looking first and then Miller and Troy went for a look afterwards."
"What if they don't find anything?"
"Well, with them blinded to the conditions outside, maybe Idona could get close enough to make a hole in the wall."
"Maybe, but it's all contingent on if they want to. I won't make them go and I will make sure they know the dangers beforehand."
"They would be helping us," Gustus said.
"And they would be in danger just as much as anyone else. My people are not expendable, Gustus. Our lives matter just as much as yours. What you're asking is very dangerous." Miller and Idona came back in just then and found seats.
"Miller, Idona, the Commander wants us to do some intel for them on Mount Weather. She wants us to find a way to get her people out."
"How?"
"That's what we need to discuss. Could you take Megan there and help her to find their cameras and then take them out?"
"Invisibly?"
"Yes."
"Yes, I could," Miller said.
"Then could you take Troy and look for a way in?"
"I could," he said again.
"Idona, could you go with them and make a hole in the wall if they can't find a way in?" Idona thought about it.
"If I do that, they'll die, won't they?" she asked the Commander.
"Yes. If they cannot live above ground, they will die if the air is let in, but it is now a question of who deserves to live. We have done nothing to them and yet they take my people by the hundreds. We never see them again. I have no doubt that whatever happens inside the mountain, it kills my people!"
"I'll do it," Idona said, "but I'll go alone." she held up her hand. "If anyone else comes with me, you'll have to deal with committing genocide. Do you want that?"
"Do you?" Bellamy asked.
"No, but there's no other way is there? I can get her people out, but without them, they would most likely die."
"What makes you say that?" Clarke asked.
"Why would they need so many of her people, Clarke? The only things I can think of is that they are either eating them or using them for something else that kills them. Something that could be keeping the mountain men alive." The others were dumbfounded at the thought of what could be happening in the mountain.
"You really think so?"
"I can't think of another thing they could be doing. I doubt the clan people are staying there voluntarily. Didn't Charlotte say something about using their blood?" Clarke reluctantly nodded her head.
"I can get you there," Miller said.
"And then you can leave, as well," Idona countered.
"I could help you," he said, stubbornly.
"Can you? Could you kill someone who's only crime is staying alive? Could you kill the children in the mountain?"
"Children?!" Clarke said.
"With almost a hundred years and people still iving there, there has to be children in there as well. Just like the Ark, they are now multi-generational people."
"I never thought of that," Clarke admitted.
"So I ask again, can you kill the children and babies?" Miller shook his head.
"Neither can I, but denying the mountain men their source of life will kill them all."
"So what do we do?"
"I go and stop them and free her people," Idona said.
"Will you be okay?" asked Bellamy.
"No," Idona said, shaking her head. "Anyone who's okay with killing children isn't right in the head in the first place."
"But what about you? How would it affect you?"
"No idea, but I can't stand by and do nothing. My conscience can't be clear no matter what I do. Either I let them keep killing the Commander's people or I kill them to stop it. I don't think there's another choice." Clarke was thinking about something she read during her medical training.
"There may be a way, but I'd need to do some more research first," she said.
"What way?" Bellamy asked.
"Our bone marrow. I think it's more potent than their own. If we were to offer our bone marrow through donations - and I mean only once per person - I think they could live above ground, but we'd need to find another island to put them on."
"Like where?"
"I was thinking about Barbuda. It's a small island with one town that I could see but it does have a freshwater pond on it. We make them a deal. They get our bone marrow and they get to live above ground - on an island. With no boats and no way off, they live or die there."
"There's not many of us, Clarke. We can't possibly supply bone marrow to everyone," Atom said.
"No, but we can go to Barbados and ask them to donate. We just tell them that there's another group who needs to live on an island to survive but they need bone marrow donations to do it. They get to live relatively free. I bet they've got some kind of farm station in there so they have people who can grow crops for them. They can learn to fish for their meat and anything else, they'll have to learn the same way we are - by trying it. It's the price they pay for their freedom from the mountain."
"Will the Arkers go for it?"
"I think some of them will, but I won't expose my people to them until we have more information on just what's needed for a bone marrow transfusion."
"So if we do this, when do we do this?" Idona asked.
"We need to go to see mom first and then figure it out from there. Idona, I'll need you and Troy with me. If anyone tries anything, you two should be able to get us out of it."
"I agree," Idona said.
"When do you go?" Clarke turned to the Commander.
"Do you agree with them living on an island rather than in the mountain, Commander?"
"I do, but if they try to get off the island, I'll have to order their deaths."
"I agree," Idona said. "We need that island checked out and all possible ways off removed."
"So if the Arkers do agree, how do we do it?" Atom asked.
"I think we need to make contact with them in some way. I don't want them taking us and I don't want them killing us. We have to find a way to contact them without them hurting us or the Commander's people."
"Understood."
"First, we go to Barbados and speak to mom and Kane, we need their permission to take bone marrow donations. Then we need a way to communicate with Mount Weather."
"We could ask Raven to build a radio to contact them," Bellamy said.
"Good idea. She can check the airport. They had radio towers for communication with the planes, didn't they?" Clarke asked.
"I think so," Atom said.
"Then ask Raven to check it out. We may need another way of communicating at first, but I think if we find a camera of theirs, we could write a sign they could see. Maybe ask them for a radio frequency to contact them on. We need to make sure that they know we are NOT the Commander's people."
"Think they'll go for it?"
"No idea, but it's the best thing I can think of."
"Do we tell them we're from the Ark?"
"Again, no idea. We're flying blind here and we're just making it up as we go along. I don't think we'll know what to say until we're there."
"Alright. When do you go to Barbados?"
"Hopefully in a few days. We still need time to recover ourselves. I say in four days. Once we get permission from them, I want Finn and Roma and Bellamy to go to Barbuda to see where to put them. Bellamy, you can turn into a small animal, but make sure it's one that both of them are comfortable sharing space with." Bellamy nodded.
"After that, we need to make contact with Mount Weather."
"That can wait," Bellamy said. "I think we've got enough to deal with on Barbados."
"I agree." Clarke turned to the Commander. "Do you agree?"
"Sha, I agree," she said. Clarke nodded.
"Then we wait for four days before going."
"Good, I need to make sure the tank's full before I go," Idona said. "I want to make sure it doesn't leak when full."
"Go check," Clarke said, gesturing to the door. Idona got up and left. The rest of them also left and Clarke showed the Commander around their new home while the others went back to the jobs they were doing before the Commander arrived.
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Clarke took Miller as well to Barbados but he was invisible all the time. He was their secret weapon - just in case.
Abby and James - Troy's father - were ecstatic to see their children and hugged them hard.
"Mom, need to breath," Clarke said. Abby let go a fraction but kept her close to her.
"Alright, mom, that's enough, let go. We need to talk."
"What about honey?" Abby asked.
"Let's go find Kane. We need to talk about another group of survivors we found out about."
"What about them?" Abby persisted.
"Mom! Wait until we're in a meeting with Kane." Abby frowned but let Clarke go. James went to get Kane and they had a meeting in one of the houses they'd cleaned out and were using as council chambers. Major Bryne was there as Kane's security officer.
"Okay, what do you want to talk to us about?" asked Kane.
"Commander Lexa of the twelve clans of the Kongeda has had problems with another group of survivors. These people live in an underground bunker under Mount Weather. The problem with them is that they cannot metabolise the radiation so they can't leave the mountain unless clad in a radiation suit. Because of that, they've been trying to find a way to live above ground. They kidnap the Commander's people and take them into the mountain and only a few are ever seen. Some of those ones have been turned into cannibalistic monsters called reapers." All of the Arkers looked horrified.
"How many people?"
"Of the Commander's people?" Clarke asked for clarification. Abby nodded.
"Hundreds every year and since the war began, so we're talking thousands upon thousands of them."
"How many mountain people?"
"We don't know."
"So why are you here?"
"There may be a way to get them out of the mountain. We think they are taking the Commander's people to try to find a way to live on the surface. If we offer our bone marrow, I think it could be enough for them to live above ground. The only thing we want in return - apart from the clanspeople who are in the mountain - is that they, too, live on one of the islands in the Caribbean."
"Which one?"
"Barbuda. It's a small island but it does have a freshwater pond on it. It was never a highly populated place before the war so there's plenty of trees for them to use and there was one town on the island. They can clear them out for themselves. This is the only way to let them live, otherwise we need to kill them to get the clanspeople out."
"But that's genocide!" Abby exclaimed.
"Mom, it's now a case of one side dying to save the other. Either more of the Commander's people are taken and killed so they live or the mountain men die so the Commander's people stay free and live. There's no other way other than bone marrow donation. I don't know enough about it to know if it's even feasible." Abby was quiet as she thought through what she knew about it.
"Why do you think our bone marrow would let them live above ground?"
"Because we can. We were exposed to solar radiation which is stronger than the stuff down here. Our bone marrow could be their only way." Clarke was trying to make sure her mother knew the consequences of not going along with it.
"I'll need to do some research," Abby said.
"I know, that's why I came here. Did you bring all the medical texts down with you?"
"Yes."
"Good, you and I can go through them to see if we can do this."
"We don't have a hospital here, Clarke. We're using a doctors clinic but it's nothing like what we had on the Ark."
"I know, but Mount Weather was a military facility so I think they must have one - especially if they are trying medical experiments on the clanspeople to find a way out of the mountain."
"What about them?" Kane said, pointing to Troy and Idona.
"Troy can visit with his parents and Idona can look around if she wants. If you have anything she can do, let her. She can manipulate wood, stone or metal. She knows when she needs to stop, so don't try to bully her into doing more than she's comfortable doing. My people are not donkeys or pack horses you can work until they drop."
"Understood," Kane said. "We do have some metal we need moved and made into something we can carry," Kane said.
"Then show me where it is and I can make ingots for you." Kane nodded and got up. Troy and his father also got up while an invisible Miller stayed with Clarke. Byrne went back to work. Kane showed Idona where they had piled metal until they could do something with it.
"So, what do you want?"
"Ingots would be good. We have no idea how to tell which metal is which other than iron and steel which we use a magnet to find. The rest of it is hard. Copper is easy as it's brown or green but the others are the same dull grey." Idona nodded.
"I don't know which is which either, but I can group them by their individual traits."
"Traits?"
"I don't know what to call it but I can feel each piece of metal and know which kind of metal it is. I don't know their name, but I know the 'feel' of each individual piece.
"Okay, I didn't understand that but I think you can sort them out into different piles of metals, right?"
"Something like that."
"Then I'll send Kyle Wick over to help you." Idona nodded.
"Any more skillful people who want to join us?" Idona asked.
"We've got one of two but they seem fine with staying here."
"Okay, show me where I can stack them and I can get started." Kane nodded and pointed out several different places she could put them.
Idona started pulling all the copper she could find out of the pile and began making ingots of them. She had done six ingots of two pounds each when Wick arrived.
"Hey, Kane sent me over," he said.
"Idona," Idona said, shaking his hand.
"Call me Wick," he said, smiling at her. Idona sighed inwardly.
"Lesbian, Wick," she said. Wicks' smile fell. "Let's get on with this, okay?" He nodded.
"So what are you doing?"
"Trying to sort the metal out into their different metals. I have no idea of their names, but I know how they feel. Right now, I'm doing copper. I'm making two pound ingots and once I'm done with those, I'll start on something else, maybe steel." He nodded and pulled out a small notepad.
They worked in near silence with Wick picking out the copper and Idona making the ingots.
"You know Wick, these have different melting points. Maybe you can figure out which metals they are based on that." Wick smiled.
"We did find some books in one of the small libraries here on metalworking and their properties."
"Properties! That's the word I was looking for before. I told Kane they were traits but I knew it was not the right word."
"Well we can figure out their properties later. If you can tell me the melting points of them, I can write them down and research it later."
Idona nodded and they carried on working. They may not have known what the metals were called, but Wick would look them up and assign a name to each pile. It was the best they could do for now.
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Clarke was having more luck with the bone marrow research. Both Clarke and Abby were pouring over the texts they brought down, noting anything to do with them. After a few hours, they discussed what was needed and what it would take to do it and, more importantly, how much a person could donate and still live. Clarke had a feeling that if it was offered to them, they'd grab them and drain them if they could. They'd have to go about it very carefully.
Clarke sat back.
"You know, this is all contingent on Mount Weather being reasonable and cooperative," she said to her mother.
"You think they won't be?"
"From what the Commander has said, Mount Weather is a lot like we were. Absolutely convinced that the world was theirs. Oh, they know there are people on it, but they look at the clanspeople as savages, almost proto-humans and not really worthy of being called human. I get the impression that Mount Weather justifies what it does the same way the Ark did - by calling it a law and pretending that criminals were no longer part of the Ark."
"We never thought that!" Abby said.
"Really? Because once a kid commits a crime - or rather once they're sentenced to one, as in my case - we're shoved in prison and forgotten about other than our families. Only when we turn 18 does the Ark take an interest in us again and that's only to float us."
"It wasn't like that!" Abby said with some asperity.
"Yes, it was. You may not have thought you acted like that, but you did. I was the only one in there you cared about. No-one else did. I was in solitary but I've heard enough stories from the others to know that once we are sentenced, we are no longer viewed as worthy people. A death sentence means you are no longer part of the Ark. Jaha couldn't kill them immediately - he liked to pretend he was a decent human being - so he locked us up and basically threw away the key. How many kids got pardoned in the last two years of the Ark's life? I'll tell you - none. Not one kid was pardoned or released on clemency grounds. We were seen as a drain on resources, mom. It wasn't just the air supply, but it was clothing and food and water as well. Idona could have made replacement parts for the air turbines and fixed them. Monty can increase the yield of the plants in Farm Station - in fact, he did and was caught doing it. I was put in prison for using my talent to save a life. That was another person draining the resources Jaha wanted to keep for himself. With less people on the Ark, that meant more for him!" Abby was shocked to hear that from her daughter. She knew some of it had to have been happening, but to hear it from her daughter was another thing entirely.
"Your people could have saved the Ark?"
"Maybe not entirely, but Jaha never gave us a chance to prove our worth. He was probably too scared and paranoid about someone else being better than him and taking over. All we wanted was to be treated fairly. Is that so wrong? So we have talents that others don't, there's a price to pay for them though. Each time we use them, we expend energy. It makes us tired. The more we do, the more we expend. It's like running through a hilly forest each time we use it. We have to stop and rest, eat and sleep until our energy levels have been topped up again. Idona nearly killed herself building the Homestead at Tondc for us. She built it from scratch and even though we did a lot of the work, she was the one who had to manipulate the wood and metal and sand into whatever we needed to build it. I won't let any of them do things that are too much for them. My people are not replaceable!"
"We have a couple of kids here who have shown…"
"Talents or skills, we use both, but we do not see ourselves as mutants!"
"Skills then. These kids want to stay here but they don't use their…skills much because they don't know how people will react."
"Make sure that when they use their skill, they eat and rest afterwards. Oh, if it's something light or easy, then they'll know when to eat, but if they are doing long hours or heavy duty things like lifting dead weights with your mind, then, yes, they need monitoring. Their energy reserves are not limitless, mom. Find a way to monitor them and make sure they know they don't need to do everything. Make the others do some of it."
"They're not skilled, Clarke."
"They don't have to be. Idona can make sand into glass, but then again, so could Drew. His skill is the ability to control heat and cold. He can heat up the sand and melt it. Idona just manipulates it to make whatever she's making. It's fascinating to watch her take a stick and then suddenly it starts bending and twisting and then there's a tiny bed! She did that when we were designing the Homestead. We needed to know how big to build it so she made little beds out of logs and sticks and then tore sticks off the logs for the outside walls and stuff! It's weirdly calming to watch."
"We found a hotel and we had to dig out one level from the sand so we could get daylight into the rooms. Idona could have turned the sand into bricks and removed it that way, but it would cost her precious energy to do that, so she did what we did and used shovels to dig it out instead. She was still exhausted, but it was physical exhaustion, not mental exhaustion."
"I get it," Abby said. "Don't let others make them do everything just because it seems like they can do it in an easier way."
"Exactly!"
"Do you know how much energy they expend?"
"No, and once we've got settled and are able to provide food for ourselves all year around, I want to try to quantify it. I don't know how, though. Maybe it's how much food we eat afterwards or how long we sleep. I just don't know." Abby nodded.
"Mind if I research it? There are a few books in the library we brought down that deal with psychic abilities and if they could figure out how they were doing it and what they could do. I'll read up on them to see if they say anything about how they were going to do it."
"Thanks mom. Now, we've got to go and figure out how to communicate with Mount Weather. Do you think people here would be willing to donate one piece of bone marrow?"
"I think some of them would. It depends on how many people are in Mount Weather and what they are actually doing to the clanspeople," Abby said. Clarke nodded.
"Okay, I'll go round up my people and we can go back. Oh, can we take David Miller back with us for a visit? He can see his son then. We'll bring him back in a couple of days, if that's okay?"
"Fine with me. You'll have to ask Kane, though. If you can set up visits for the parents of those you have, it would be appreciated."
"We'll see what we can do, but we are busy as well, mom. We can't just leave everything to others to do while family visits for a few days."
"I understand."
"Good, I'd better round up my team and head home," Clarke said. Abby nodded and escorted her out of the building with a still invisible Miller following behind.
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David Miller went back with them and once they were all back at Fairsands, Miller became visible again.
"Go get some food and sleep," Clarke told him. He nodded, hugged his dad and told him he'd see him later, before heading to get some food and then his bed.
"Is he alright?" David asked.
"He will be. He was invisible the entire time. Each time we use our talents, we use up energy, just like if we were to run the entire length of the Ark three times, non-stop full out with full tactical gear on." David raised his eyebrows and nodded. He looked around him. There was a lot of sand, but he could see where they were moving it from to uncover some buildings.
"Come on, I'll give you a quick tour. Miller can give you a longer one later," Clarke said.
"Miller?"
"He's our Miller. You're his dad so you'll either be Mr Miller or David. Which do you prefer?"
"Guard Miller."
"No, we don't use guard. For those of us locked up, it means nothing." David nodded.
"Then call me David."
"David it is. Come on, David." Clarke gave him a quick tour to show him where to get food and drink and where the slit trenches were and what he needed to do if he used them. After that, she showed him where he could sit and relax for a while. If he got bored, Bellamy would be around to find a job for him. He nodded and sat in the lounge to wait.
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Several hours later, Miller was up and about and able to take his father on a longer, more detailed tour. He was told to avoid the storage areas they used but everywhere else he was able to take his father.
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Idona moved through the airport. She didn't know what she was doing there, but she needed a quiet place to think and she ended up there. She walked around the deserted place, moving up and down the now stationary escalators, moving from one end to the other. She stopped on the bottom level and stared at the sand that was only held back by the thick glass. If they could give bone marrow to those in Mount Weather, would they behave and move to the islands? Would they try to take more bone marrow than agreed upon? Idona thought those in the mountain would be desperate enough to leave it that they would try anything as quickly as they could and if Idona was in charge there, she'd have her guards given it first and then they could go out and do things against any agreed conditions. No, the mountain men could not be trusted.
Was there a way they could incapacitate them all and have Abby perform the bone marrow extractions and injections? Could they keep them sedated until they could metabolise the radiation and get them to the island and then just leave them there to wake up on their own? Idona didn't trust them one bit and knew it was dangerous. She was the only one who she wanted to kill them if they didn't play by the rules. This bone marrow would let them live on the ground instead of under it, but they would not be allowed the run of the ground. Their only options were Barbuda or death. No doubt, those in charge would try to circumvent that. Maybe they could have Charlotte keep a mind open for them and warn them if they tried anything or were thinking of trying anything.
Could she just kill them if they don't want to follow the rules? If she didn't, they would come out of the mountain and probably kill the clans. They'd been doing that for the last hundred years. Idona had no doubts they saw the clans as nothing more than a means to an end and not even human at times. Idona sighed. No matter what they did, the mountain men would not like it. They wanted out of the mountain, but they wanted the land around them and to kill the savages and take their land. Nothing the Commander offered would be good enough for them. They saw the clans as not much more than slave labour for their land when they got out of the mountain and having to deal with them would be an affront to their own sense of world order.
Idona moved back to the top of the airport and sat on one of the seats, staring out to sea through one of the few windows that were uncovered. She idly picked at the wooden armrest, not realising she was pulling slivers of wood from it. Once she did, she put them back and melded it all back together. Humans were very good at casual destruction, they didn't even think about it most of the time. She remembered watching films where bored people tore bits from plastic cups or ripped up cardboard food boxes and paper serviettes and towels, not even realising just what they were doing was destruction. How many times had she done it herself since she'd been down? She knew she could fix what she destroyed, but the mountain men couldn't. How would they deal with a world that didn't want them?
Idona walked back to the hotel and went on sentry duty without really finding an answer to any of the questions she had posed. All she could do was wait and see.
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For the next two days, Miller showed his father around and showed him how they did things and what they wanted to do in the future in regards to their food problem. David joined Wells and Megan on a fishing trip and they taught him how to set a line and when and where. David was intrigued and agreed to find something to use for a line of their own. He hoped that once back on Bermuda, fishing could be something he did for fun - and food.
"What do you do for vegetables?" David asked.
"Right now, we use plants from the sea, but we hope to build veg boxes and grow our own," Miller replied.
"You eat plants from the sea?" David asked incredulously.
"Yeah, dad, you've been eating them too," Miller said grinning.
"Yeah, well they were tasty," he replied.
"And apparently medicinal too. Something about iodine and seaweed. I don't know but Clarke swears by it." David nodded.
"I'll tell Abby once I go back."
"Are you going to live there permanently?" Miller asked.
"I don't know, son. I want to be with you, but right now, you don't really have the space for others to join you. On Barbados, I know I have a place and a job. Now Wells has taught me to fish, I think I'll take it up as a hobby and help feed them." Miller put his hand on his father's shoulder.
"Dad, I think that's a marvellous idea." They carried on walking around the hotel having a private conversation.