Raven stood on deck and looked down, then up at Clarke. "It's gonna be a tight squeeze."
"Just get it all in there."
"Aye aye." Raven saluted lazily and went below. She had a limited amount of space, but was used to that after living in orbit. She moved things around to make room for one last crate that held extra tools.
"I think that's everything," she called to Clarke when she reached the deck again.
"OK," Clarke answered and joined her on the deck. "Guess we leave in the morning."
"I'm going back to Polis. I'm not missing my last night in a real bed. Murphy, you coming?"
"Nah, I'll just stay here unless Clarke's going with you."
"I'll stay here. Make sure you bring Mom in the morning."
"Do I have to?"
"Yes. So if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything."
"Sometimes, I don't like you," Raven complained to Clarke.
"So you've said. Go spend the night with your girlfriend."
100 – 100 – 100
Raven drove the rover to the dock. Ontari sat beside her on the front bench, with Abby sitting beside the passenger door. The rear was filled with the Natblida and a few last minute items. Murphy watched their approach, and grinned when Raven skidded to a stop a few feet from the dock. As soon as she turned off the engine, the Natblida poured out of the back. Abby was next out, and Murphy saw her lips moving.
Clarke joined him on the deck and watched the Natblida pull bags and boxes from the rover. Abby made her way over, and Clarke went to meet her on the pier. Abby looked doubtfully at the tug. "You're sure this is safe?" she asked.
"Floukru workers went over it. It's safe. C'mon, I'll show you where to put your stuff."
Abby followed Clarke onto the vessel and below decks while the Natblida hurried to bring the packages to the ship. Raven and Ontari stayed near the rover and each other, speaking quietly, so Murphy turned his attention to the little ones.
"Any of you ever seen a boat like this?"
"Sha, we have two," Sela kom Floukru volunteered. She carefully came aboard, and the others followed until the deck was full.
"I guess you know how to navigate and stuff."
"A little," she answered.
"We're going to stick close to the coast," Murphy told them.
"Where are you going?" Fair asked.
"To the City of Light."
"That's not a real place," one of them scoffed.
Murphy shrugged and glanced toward the rover. Ontari watched Raven walk toward the boat. When she got to the pier, she told Murphy, "Heda wants to talk to Clarke."
"I'll get her," he answered, and left the deck.
He interrupted an intense whispered conversation between Abby and Clarke. "Heda wants to see you," he said to Clarke.
"We'll finish this later," Clarke told Abby.
"Need any help?" Murphy asked Abby while Clarke left, and she put him to work moving herthings from the deck to her cabin.
Ontari waited at the back of the rover. She watched the Natblida play until Clarke approached, and then turned her attention to the other woman. Clarke was relieved to see Ontari's brown eyes when she got closer. "You wanted to see me?"
"Sha, to wish you a safe journey and remind you that no matter what happens, you have a place."
"Thank you. We'll be back as soon as we can."
"It takes as long as it takes." Her eyes shifted to Lexa's clear green. "I will see you soon."
Clarke nodded and bit the inside of her lip.
Ontari spoke again. "Raven promised to take care of you. I am asking you do the same for her."
"Of course." Clarke looked over Ontari's shoulder at the rover. "How are you going to get back toPolis?"
"Raven taught me to drive," Ontari said, smiling proudly.
Clarke smiled back. "Be careful."
"I will see you soon," Ontari said, echoing Lexa's goodbye.
Clarke offered her arm, and she and Ontari clasped forearms for a few seconds before Ontari pulled Clarke into a tight hug.
100 – 100 – 100
Raven and Abby started as soon as they were out of sight of the dock. Clarke separated them but it didn't last. She talked to them for an hour, and the resulting truce lasted through the first day. She tried to hide in the wheelhouse, but had to come out to end yet another squabble.
Clarke laid down the law then. Her nerves were enough on edge. If they couldn't act like adults on their own, Clarke would treat them like children. "If you don't have something nice or helpful to say, don't say anything," she finished, and fled to the top of the wheelhouse. Murphy was there and he discreetly handed her a flask.
Clarke took a healthy hit of Azgeda's finest liquor and sighed. "Chof. The Natblida act better."
"What's their problem?"
"Raven's still pissed off and Mom wants to either fix everything or be in charge."
"So same old stuff."
"Yeah."
"They have a week to work it out."
"Don't remind me."
Murphy smiled faintly and handed her the flask again. "I'll bring your furs up here."
"Thank you."
Murphy didn't say anything before dropping to the deck. He tossed two furs up to Clarke and went to get their meal. Nobody had to threaten him to take care of Clarke. It was second nature by now for him to make sure she ate, drank, and slept. Although he was certain Clarke would say he owed her nothing, Murphy disagreed. He owed her, and Roan and Ontari, and would serve any of them however they needed.
Tonight, that meant bringing Clarke something to eat so the liquor didn't burn quite so much, and leaving her on the wheelhouse after with the flask and her sketchbook while he took a turn refereeing between Abby and Raven until they were separated to sleep. The next time he checked on Clarke, the flask sat neatly atop her sketchbook. He was surprised it wasn't empty.
He looked around once more before getting into his furs, between Clarke and the short ladder up to the refuge.
100 – 100 – 100
By the next midday, Raven and Abby were emphatically not speaking to each other. It would have been a relief except for the banging, growling, and tension that spread through the small boat. As soon as they docked, Clarke leapt ashore and ran for the woods. Murphy tied the last line and loped after her.
Raven and Abby watched Clarke flee, shared a hateful look, and went to opposite ends of the boat. Clarke skipped the meal the guards fixedin favor of two small birds, a fish, and a rabbit she prepared while Murphy filled their canteens and gathered enough wood to last the night. Although Clarke kept the flame small, she knew the guards knew where they were. She didn't know what agreement Murphy made with them, but she was grateful for the quiet around them.
She was content to sleep on the ground, but Murphy woke her just as it began to rain and they ran for the wheelhouse.
100 – 100 – 100
They had to wait for the rain to clear before departing again. When Abby and Raven converged on Clarke while they waited for the weather to break, Clarke's quiet growl silenced both of them.
"I've had enough," Clarke said. "Work it out or I will." She turned her back to them. Murphy, beside her in the wheelhouse, bit his lip to keep from laughing at the situation.
An hour later, they were back, and Clarke was done. She pointed silently at the ladder to the lower deck until they moved toward it, and followed them below. Clarke followed them into a tiny and incredibly overstuffed cabin. "Sit," she growled, and when they did, started. "What exactly is the reason that the two of you act like this? What's so damn important between you that you can't work together?"
"You know what she did," Raven said.
"Yeah, and I know what you did and what I did. It's ancient history. We can't change any of it. So again, what is the problem?"
"Raven won't see any viewpoint but her own."
"Abby insists she knows the right way to do everything."
"Stop it." Clarke loomed over them. "You're going to work together. You used to work well together. You're going to do it again. If you keep this bullshit up, I'm going to put both of you off the damn boat."
Raven scoffed, and Clarke turned on her. "You think this is a joke?"
"I don't think you can do what you want without us, so I'm pretty sure you won't put us out."
"Do. Not. Tempt. Me," Clarke growled and turned to her mother. "You either. Work it out."
Clarke was vibrating with tension when she returned to the wheelhouse, but belowdecks was quiet.
"Did you kill them?" Murphy asked.
"Still thinking about it."
He snickered before pointing toward an opening in the clouds. "I think we'll be out of here soon."
Clarke nodded, slid down the bulkhead, and settled on the deck.
"You need something?" Murphy asked.
Clarke shook her head, and soon after he heard her quiet snores. He gestured to one of the guards and asked him to bring a fur to cover Clarke.
100 – 100 – 100
They made good time over the next few days. Murphy was impervious to the rough seas that stayed with them after the storm passed, but half of their guards, Abby, and Raven were green. When Clarke returned to the wheelhouse after handing out another round of motion sickness pills, Murphy smirked at her. "At least they aren't yelling at each other."
100 – 100 – 100
The fourth day after the storm was clear and bright. The sun's reflection from the glass of the solar panels was visible for miles. Clarke had the guards summon everyone. Clarke, Raven, and Abby stood in the wheelhouse with Murphy. The guards crowded the doorway.
"That bright thing up there is where we're going. The City of Light," he said bitterly. "A.L.I.E. probably knows we're coming. She may try to attack us with drones, so get your weapons ready. Guns will be most efficient, but arrows might work, too.
"The place should be empty. There's the lighthouse, a bunker, and a huge building. I don't know what all's in there, but that's probably where what you're looking for is. Until we know what she does and doesn't control, jam the doors open before entering."
"I don't think Mom and Raven should leave the boat until we know it's safe," Clarke said.
"We can leave them here with two guards while we check it out," he suggested.
"We can do that," Clarke agreed over Raven's protests.
As they tied the boat to the pier, the first drone appeared. Raven shot it down and sent a guard to get the pieces. It would give her something to do while they waited for the all clear.
Murphy pointed out the bunker as they approached the main building. "She's probably going to be there," he warned Clarke.
"Good," she answered and kept walking.
They approached it cautiously, noting cameras that announced their presence to whatever was inside. The guards had picked up a few fist sized rocks. The first one was put in the juncture of the door with the outer jamb. The guard kicked it a few times to make certain it wouldn't move. He was first inside, cautiously moving into the interior. When Clarke entered, she was far less careful.
Murphy was correct. A.L.I.E. waited for them at the end of the entry. Clarke looked at him. "Seriously?"
He shrugged.
"Clarke Griffin. John Murphy," it greeted them.
"Dead pixels," Clarke replied and deliberately walked through it.
"There is no death in the City of Light."
"There's no life, either," Murphy answered. "So I guess you're having fun with all the other dead people." He stayed between A.L.I.E. and Clarke while she opened door after door. When she found a stairwell, she had a guard block the door open while she made a mark on the wall with charcoal.
Murphy continued to keep A.L.I.E.'s attention while Clarke methodically searched each level. She found rooms full of terminals, all scrolling endless lines of text and symbols. She found several rooms of servers. In the lowest level, she opened a door and recognized a medical facility.
What she found in a room deep in that section brought her to a halt. She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, then looked again.
There were rows of tanks large enough to hold an adult human. They held a bluish liquid and each had a pedestal in front of it. In the back of her stunned mind, Clarke wondered whether Lexa actually knew about this, and decided that she could not have consciously known. Still, she had driven Clarke to seek a miracle. She hoped Raven and her mother could create one from this.
Murphy stood behind her, his eyes just as wide. "This is your master plan?" he asked the hologram. "Your code is fucked up."
"I fulfilled every one of my creator's plans."
"Pretty sure she didn't mean for you to make people from scratch."
"Let's go," Clarke said.
A.L.I.E. followed them to the entrance, attempting to plead its case along the way. It was used to being argued with, and winning the arguments, and had no idea how to proceed with people who refused to engage.
100 – 100 – 100
On the boat, Abby stood on the deck watching for Clarke's return. She kept an eye out for more drones, too, while Raven examined the pieces of the one she shot down. They were nervous, as were their guards, and all of them tried to hide it.
The day was nearly over when they saw Clarke, Murphy, and their guards returning. There was no fire that night, no hot meal. They ate dried meat and washed it down with water while Clarke explained what they found.
Raven was excited about the prospect of having so much to work with. Abby thought about everything and willed herself not to destroy the hope evident on Clarke's face and in her voice.
They slept on the boat that night, and in the morning set out for the gleaming white building in the distance.