Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 3
Uninhabited Island / Underground tunnel/ Circle Cavern
Galactic Standard Time / 0625
Burt looked around the chamber, trying to figure a way out. He had heard the stories, and he cursed for not realizing where he was. His ship had been destroyed, and he had no way off. Sooner or later another armada would come. And the newcomers? They were nothing more than wheat before the harvest once those lizard things got here! And that was if there were only a few who had Awakened!
“HEY!” Paige called out.
Burt blinked and looked at Paige, who looked back with a hard look. He didn’t move so Paige reached over and squeezed his shoulder.
“Look, I get it. You’re scared. But calm down, you can’t do anything if you let your emotions rule your body! Just take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds. After the first do it again until you’re calm,” Paige said softly.
Without a word, Burt did as instructed. With a few repeats, Burt looked at her and smiled.
“Thank you, but how did you know?” Burt asked
Paige’s eyes went to Roy before she spoke.
“Your eyes. I’ve seen it before,” Paige said as she looked away.
“Look, Burt? It seems to me you’ve heard about this place. So how about you tell us what this place is,” Jinn’s soft voice made Burt take a deep breath.
“I…… I hit this place on the other exactly. I spent most of my time wandering on the other side of that mountain. I never saw the ship, I woulda have known this place was the Iron Island. And that’s bad,” Burt admitted as he looked around.
“How bad is this place?” Racha asked flatly.
“This place is near what a lot of people think is the center of the Great Sea. I spoke of those who can influence minds. Some can see into the Future,” Burt admitted.
He looked around and saw the disbelief in most of the others, all but Jinn who nodded. “And what happened then? What did these future tellers say and who believes it?”
“There are…… pirate fleets out on the waves. They are the ones we have to be worried about. And the fate spinner’s words are old, very old. Maybe a thousand years ago at least. They found this place about three hundred, and they have been trying to claim something here. No one out of their society knows what it is. But they always try,” Burt said bitterly as he looked around
“So maybe we’ve got a fleet of pirates coming at us? And some of them can use this power right?” Jinn asked flatly.
The others all reacted to this shocking information. Jinn was the only person who didn’t pale in shock. Burt only looked at him before he nodded.
“Then let’s finish up fast people, we need to be moving in half an hour! We’ve got to get to the river by noon…” Racha began only for Al to interrupt.
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“No. We shouldn’t do that,” Al said.
Everyone looked at him but all he did was look down. His mind was going over everything that he knew about this place. From the encounters the group had to what Roy told them. Even the attack on the escape capsule was factored in before Al looked up. At the looks he was being sent, he sighed and shook his head. “All of us shouldn’t go. A small group, half at most.”
“Why not?” Jinn asked and Al looked up at him.
“Party size increased by three, and there’s the baby to consider. If attacked she might cry, and draw in more foes. Problem, big problem. Can’t leave her behind, not right. Only one thing to do,” Al said swiftly, his old way of talking making a comeback.
“And that is what?” Racha said with a growl.
Al looked at her and didn’t see her but with everything he knew about the Service, her reaction was expected. She was an invaluable piece here and might be the difference between life and death.
“Logically, this place is the perfect defensive stronghold. We have no idea how strong any……resistance might be at the river. The best thing would be to split the party so to speak. Some of us go to the river, the rest hold the fort. If we can find a swift path, then some hold the river while some get the others. It might be the difference between life and death,” Al said as he locked eyes with Racha.
“If we need to move fast a smaller group would be best. If Burt could take us there, then you all can wait here. Once we know the path is safe, we’ll get you and then get over it. We can try and find shelter once we’re across,” Al said as he looked at Racha with a hard look.
“I can get you to the river, I just need the direction. Give me that and I can do it,” Burt said with a grin.
“I’ll go too! They might need a medic along. And if we don’t get back the three of you can try and get back to the chief. He’ll need to know about all of this,” Sara said as she spoke up. As they looked at her she grabbed a pod and started eating it.
“Then me too. We four will make the attempt, one less than when we set out from Base,” Jinn declared as he grabbed his own fruit pod. He stopped before he bit into it and looked at Racha and Paige. “You two should stay here, you’ll have the best chance of getting Roy and his cargo back to base.”
Racha looked between them all, and tried to keep calm.. she could see where Al was coming from, and she even agreed with him. That was basic strategy, make sure you had a backup plan or escape route. With her and Paige keeping an eye here, they would be able to defend this place. And together with Roy, they could probably make it back to their escape capsule.
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“Four of us…. Stable. If we all watch out for each other. And a square is easier to defend if we’re back to back. And it makes sense Racha,” Al said softly.
Racha looked at Al, her mind racing. The problem wasn’t that it didn’t make sense, it was she didn’t know if she could trust Jinn! He was someone she couldn’t even figure out, and that bothered her a lot. His reactions told her that he was raised by criminals, but he didn’t know modern things. She had seen the wonder and awe when he had worked a shift on one of the amusement parks back on the ship. There just weren't ways that you couldn’t fake that! Well, there were. And the kind of people who used those methods were the worst of scum. And that meant that Jinn might be one of them. But now she had to trust him!?
She looked around and took a deep breath. There was only one choice to make here. “Everyone but Jinn, stay here. Jinn, we need to talk, now.”
Racha got up and turned towards the stone ramp, from the sounds Jinn was following after her. This was a long time coming, and it had to be now. If there was any hope for this to happen, then she had to get rid of all her doubts.
“Okay, what is it?” Jinn asked as he followed her outside.
Racha looked at him, staying silent for a few seconds. “Why should I trust you at all?”
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Jinn looked at her and tried to figure out what to say. He hadn’t exactly been raised by people who would trust the government. “I….. trust is hard, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. But if I let you go with those people, I need to trust that they’ll stay alive. So where were you raised?” Racha asked him and Jinn shrugged.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Jinn said flatly. He held up a hand and stopped her from saying anything. “I mean that literally…… I…… escaped my home aboard a water ship. Once we were near shore I swam and ran. I was able to get some credits from a job and survived for a time. Got off-world by a smuggler and when they made port I signed onto the Spirit.”
“And who did you escape from?” Racha asked.
Jinn kept quiet, wondering what to say. He had learned a lot of what he had thought was truth was lies. And with what they were after…… “I don’t know. They said that we were the last defenders of the True Federation. They painted all races but humans as monsters that conquered the Federation. We were all to be the fist that killed them all.”
“What made you discover the truth?” Racha asked as she looked at him.
Jinn only smiled bitterly as he remembered that day so long ago. “If you could believe it, it was watching a class trip. Just seeing kids, aliens, and humans helping each other. It called into question everything they taught me. I….. after that, I…… things happened. And I left my world.”
Racha only looked at him in shock.
He didn’t want to know what she was thinking, it was hard enough just speaking about what happened. But he felt strangely free right now like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. For a moment he remembered his lost friends. Those who died in training, and those he had left behind. The surety of his old life, what he had left behind to do what was right.
“Okay, okay. I’ll need you to tell me the name of the ship and world you joined the Spirit from. If those people are still active, the Service needs to act. That’s the complete and absolute line, got it? I’m not budgeting,” Racha said.
Jinn looked back and tried to keep calm as he saw the hard look in her eyes. This was just one of the reasons that Service operatives were so hard to handle, their wills. “Fine, but what should we do about Roy? With Burt finding out about this Power, he’ll tell others. And could you imagine what some of those people might do? What Bradford would do to with something like what I can do?”
“Let’s keep that from happening! I’ll stay back here, talk to Roy. I’ll see if I can get him to stay silent if we have to head back. Nothing more to do really. And I hope I don’t have to,” Racha said.
Jinn nodded, the same thoughts she had going through his head.
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Below Burt tried to keep his face clear. They had no idea that he was able to hear everything that those two were saying. His skill, Targeted Hearing had saved his life for years. But now he was able to listen in to the others at the cave mouth. And he had learned so much. First, Jinn can use the Power, he might even have an Aether Template of his own. He had thought that they knew about the Power, and he was right. And from what he was able to figure out, they had only learned about it recently. If he was lucky, probably on this Quest of theirs. And the most interesting fact, someone named Bradford was by what they said an opposition within their group. He could use that knowledge, it might even save him.
Below Burt tried to keep his face clear. They had no idea that he was able to hear everything that those two were saying. His skill, Targeted Hearing had saved his life for years. But now he was able to listen in to the others at the cave mouth. And he had learned so much. First, Jinn can use the Power, he might even have an Aether Template of his own. He had thought that they knew about the Power, and he was right. And from what he was able to figure out, they had only learned about it recently. If he was lucky, probably on this Quest of theirs. And the most interesting fact of them all. There was someone named Bradford was by what they said an opposition within their group. He could use that knowledge, it might even save him.
“So is it better to go on? I mean with what Burt told us all,” Roy said.
Burt looked up and saw that Roy had started to look at him a little worried. And he just sighed, but Al spoke before Burt could.
“No, Roy. It’s because of what Burt told us we have to go on. If one of those pirate fleets attacks us, we need better weapons. The Yard-Ship is our only hope. We don’t have a choice!” Al said passionately
“But if those pirates want that ship, shouldn’t we hide?” Roy demanded.
“The inner area is even worse. I spent a while here, and the places within are full of herds of monsters. There are the hives of humanoid insects all over, the flying ones from the mountains…. All in all the shore would be safer. And if we can take this Yard Ship, and its armor is as good as I hope. Then even if it’s not working we can only hold it. Then we can survive,” Burt said as he looked at Roy.
Burt never mentioned that other forces could help them here. He had promised that he wouldn’t say anything about them, and he wouldn’t. But if they would only let the newcomers know about them then together they could live!
“But….” Roy began but someone interrupted him.
“They’re right!” Racha said as she and Jinn came down to the bottom level. “Four people would move fast enough to escape anything. Once the route is secure, someone will come back for us. Paige, start to move your spare gear from my pack into yours. Let’s see if we can make a carrier for the baby.”
“So we’ve to go then? How far away do you think the river is?” Sara asked as she and Al got up.
Burt smiled as he looked at the others, all in all, this was perfect! He could learn more about these people, and if he learned enough, then he could plan around them. All he had to do was stay alive until he found a way home. He had made it back to his home territory, he could do this at least.
“Maybe about half an hour’s walk from what I can remember. If we move fast we could cut that time in half. And since it's still Dawn time for another hour or so, most of the beasts should still be asleep. And a lot of the ones around here? Last I came through here there weren’t any packs. So we should be fine,” Burt said cheerily. Looking around, he barely kept a smirk off his face.
“And that’s another reason why I said a small group was better,” Al said as he looked around.
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Paige looked at Burt with a hidden frown. Something about his emotions was wrong, she couldn’t say more than that. When Jinn and Racha went to talk, he hadn’t reacted to the conversation around him. His eyes had been focused on the cave mouth, but why? The only reason she could think of was so out there it was impossible. But then she thought about what she could do, and then it seemed possible. She still didn’t know what the limits of this Power were. The possibility that Burt could have listened to Jinn and Racha wasn’t zero, and that scared her.
If he had heard whatever the two talked about, then what? She still didn’t have any way to let Sara know, and before they left what could she even do? She couldn’t just come out and say it, who knows what Burt would do? So she needed to tell them something without talking, and how could she do that….
She felt like hiding her head as an answer came. As she watched them leave she stopped Jinn by flashing a hand symbol for ‘Danger’ when Burt’s back was turned.
Looking at her he made another symbol, the ‘What’ symbol. She smiled and flashed a symbol for ‘Listen’ and then ‘Spy’ before she pointed at Burt. When Jinn’s eyes went hard, she knew she had succeeded. Despite the barriers, she had been able to pass along what she knew.
As soon as the party left the chamber, Paige saw Racha look towards the blocked passageway. Moving her head Paige looked towards it and slowly brought out a handheld computer. Calling up the app Al had added to the senses she frowned as she saw nothing new. Opening up the history she still saw nothing, and with a small frown looked towards Racha.
Racha looked back and then moved so she was standing with her back to Roy before she started to sign at Paige. ‘I’ll stay on watch there. You stay near the top. That way we can chat on the handhelds. Do you think Burt was able to overhear us?’
Paige only looked at Racha, and then took a deep breath before signing ‘Yes’.
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As Jinn led the way through the forest, he kept one eye ahead, one on the bushes, and his ear on Burt. He had thought he had already thought of the worst, but he was wrong. If Burt had spied on them, then that meant he had done so with the Power he talked about. The worst thing was to be spied on when you thought you were safe to talk. And if there was any way to keep everyone alive, he needed to think of anything, even the most outlandish. He couldn’t be off his game from his talk with Racha. But if Burt had been on this island a while, then he might know something about how the cave beast disappeared.
“So Burt,” Sara began before Jinn could speak. “You’ve been here a while. So seen anything that shocked you?”
“On this island? Well, yes. The packs, now they will grow and the Alphas might bring in other species over time. But I’ve never seen so many on such a small area. I mean most of the time there’s only one main pack. Here? …….. I’ve heard of places like it but I’ve never seen one before. I thought they were only rumors,” Burt’s voice said from behind them at the back.
For now, Jinn would hold his tongue. He couldn’t blame Burt. The man was probably only making sure they wouldn’t kill him. But if Burt became a problem, then he would soon become unalive.