by Luna Wolf
Arrow stops, causing the A.I. leading us to stop as well. "You and the other girls are more important than us. There's only three of you. We're expendable. You need to be alive to bring life into this world. Stop fighting us over it and accept it as a fact."
I frown, but keep my mouth shut. Nothing I say will get them to see I don't care. I rather have all of them alive, than ever succeed at having children.
After a little bit King puts me back down.
"If you go one and a half miles in that direction, you will find a river. If ever lost, follow it and it will lead you to base." The A.I. blurts as it's mechanical arm flings off to the right.
King grumbles, "Does that mean we're getting close? I could really use some food, not sure how we'll prepare it, but I could really use some."
Something in the A.I. whines. "We have approximately half a mile to go before reaching the edge of base."
Arrow hurries his step forcing us all to quicken our own.
He taps at his implant and tries to call Earth, still no signal. If we're only half a mile from base, shouldn't they be working by now?
"Damn it!" He tries again, running now. Still nothing.
The A.I. rushes to stay ahead of us, clearing away any plants it missed the first time.
Sweat runs down the sides of my face. This type of heat wasn't meant to be run in when life and death isn't on the line. A static like noise increases with each passing second. What is that?
"We've arrived!" The A.I. blares before we all follow it into an area where a good portion of the trees have been cut all the way down. A grouping of them stand together, other droids move up and down them. A base of a treehouse house, or should I say houses rests in the tall, thick branches. Further off to the left of the tree grouping roars a waterfall, flowing into a lake basin. The stream wraps around the backside of the construction to return to the jungle.
We all still, taking it in. I didn't picture it like this, but knowing we have somewhere to sleep up off the ground when the darkness comes fills me with some relief.
"Why can't I reach my father on Earth, aren't the signal towers around here?" Arrow tries the call again, but the red alert flashes over the screen, denying him.
The A.I.'s head jerks to the side. "I do not have reference for signal tower, can you please rephrase?"
Arrow pinches the bridge of his nose. "I need to call Dr. Langsting, but my implant still has no signal. Have you brought us somewhere that can make a call possible?"
"Implant calls are impossible on Earth 2, son of Dr. Langsting. I can create a message for you and send it to them, and them I, but the technology for implant calls is not found here."
I frown now. Didn't Dr. Langsting say it was possible before we left. That he would speak to us when we landed?
Echo reaches for my hand. I glance at his expression, worry.
I rub circles into his skin with my thumb.
"No, my father told me it would be possible to make calls. How do I do that?"
The A.I.'s head jerks to the other side, it's permanent smile sends a flash of ire through my chest. "I can send a message for you."
Arrow growls. "Fine. Tell him something went wrong and we crashed off course. We've made it to base, but there's no signal towers here. We need advice on what to do about that."
Its smile lights up. "Sending message now. It will be one day before a response will be made."
"What? A day!"
"Yes. approximately twenty-four hours, fifty-eight minutes, and thirty seconds from now you'll receive a response."
"Fuck!" Arrow paces. All the pent-up worry finally spilling out.
Octavius sighs. "This is exactly why I will never trust anyone who wears a silver jumpsuit."
Arrow whirls on him. "Are you calling my father a liar?" His grey eyes gleam with such anger I take a step back, bumping into King, while Echo grips my hand tighter.
Octavius sniffs. "If the shoe fits."
Arrow tongues at his cheek, while his fists clench at his sides. "My father wouldn't lie to me. I'm sure this A.I. just doesn't have the specs needed to tell me where the towers are, and why it didn't take us there in the first place."
A shrug from Octavius. "You know, I bet they didn't send us here for procreation at all. Why send us to a planet that can kill us every time it decides to turn out the lights?"
"Darkness will fall in approximately six hours, three minutes, and ten seconds. All units must be in their stations then, or risk being destroyed."
My attention goes back to the droid. "It knows about the darkness?"
Rosie cries from behind me. Pansy whispers words of comfort to her.
Octavius throws his arms up in the air. "If that damned thing knows about it, that means they knew about it, and decided not to tell us the damn planet is bi-polar. I guess dear old dad didn't want us to succeed."
Arrow lets out a scream before tackling Octavius. "I'm so sick of hearing you run your damn mouth. You don't know shit about my father!"
His fist lands in Octavius’s jaw.
Hooking his leg around Arrow's back Octavius flips them, getting the upper hand to land his own punch.
My heart hammers. They shouldn't be fighting like this. It won't help anything. "S-stop i-it."
Neither of them hear me as Arrow's fist goes for a kidney punch.
King and Herc rush forward to pull them apart. The enraged duo fight the massive arms that hold them back, but they do little in getting the men to release them.
"Stop it! What good is fighting going to do either of you?" King growls.
Rage burns in Arrow's gaze. "I hate you! I've always hated you!"
Octavius sneers. "You can't handle the fact she chose me over you."
Blood rushes around in my ears as my heart tries to escape my chest cavity. What?
Arrow nearly gets out of Herc's grasp. "I'm going to kill you!"
"I'd like to see you try."
Both men fight harder to get at each other. the veins in King and Herc's biceps strain as the work to keep the two from ripping out each other's throats.
"Are you still butthurt over the fact you didn't get chosen to be her partner in the graduation challenges? Why don't you tell Velma the truth?"
Hearing my name come from Octavius jolts me out of my shock. He's never used my name before.
Arrow kicks. "Shut up! You shut the fuck up!"
Octavius laughs. "Tell her the truth!"
Truth? Truth about what? I drop Echo's hand. "Stop it! What are you ta-talking about?"
Neither one hear me. Herc jolts with sudden pain, his arms involuntarily releasing their hold on Arrow. He wastes no time sprinting forward, a throwing knife in his grasp.
Herc hisses as he peers at the charred flesh on his arms. "He fucking shocked me!"
Octavius flips King over his head, sending him through the air, as if he wasn't more than a sack of potatoes.
He gets ready to take on Arrow.
This must stop and there's only one way I'm going to get them to wake up. In a second's decision, I rush forward, meeting them in the middle and catching their arms in my hand before they can plunge the knives into each other.
My footing slides. They're both stronger than me by a lot and it takes all my strength to keep the knives from going into me as well.
"Knock it off, or so help me I'll find a way to knock both of you out!"
Reality hits both as their eyes widen and they pull back from me, dropping the knives.
Octavius pulls me into a hug. "Are you insane? We could've killed you!"
I gently push him away. He frowns. I stare up into his four, solid-black eyes. "Never again use me as a weapon to fight with. I don't care how mad you are." I then glance around at the others. "That goes for you all, too. I'm not some wild card you can use to make the others angrier. I have varying levels of relationships with all of you. Stop being petulant. If it happens again, I won't be with any of you. I rather be alone than be the cause of anger and jealously."
Octavius rubs at the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I won't ever bring you into a fight again, I promise. But you should know—"
I can almost feel Arrow tense from behind me. My finger goes over Octavius's lips, stopping him from telling me whatever the truth is. "I don't care what it is, but obviously it is Arrow's truth to tell, not yours. He'll tell me when he's ready. For now, let's figure out what we can eat and how, and then maybe help these droids. We have six hours until the darkness returns and want to be somewhere safe."
Octavius stays quiet as I pull my finger back.
"Can I get some healing spray over here? Who has the med bags?" Pansy stands with Herc looking at the charred skin where Arrow zapped him.
Octavius sighs before giving me a pleading stare. "I do, hang on." He unclasps the clips in front of his chest before taking the large bag off his back and meandering over to them.
A firm touch grasps my arm and I turn around to face Arrow. He won't meet my gaze. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I had to get you two to stop before you killed each other." I take his hand in mine.
"I'm...I'm sorry. He's always known how to push me. My father is an easy subject to get me seeing red."
How long have they known each other? "No killing each other. A p-p-punch here or there, I get it, you're males. Pro-proving who's alpha and all that."
"Listen, about what he said—"
I glance around, several of the others watch us, King included. "You don't need to tell me right now. Tell me when we have a chance alone. It wasn't right for him to out you like that, no matter what the secret is. I ba-barely know y-you. I course you have se-secrets." Even if they're about me. I rather him tell me when we don't have a dozen wanting to know ears straining to hear our conversation.
His Adam's apple bobs in his throat. "Okay. Later."
I nod, letting of his hand before going to King. "Are you okay?"
He grins at me and nods. "My ass hurts a little, but I've dealt with worse. I never expected someone his size to be able to throw me like that. He has a lot more strength than his lean build suggests."
"I'm glad you're okay, and that they didn't kill each other." Hot tears fall down my cheeks at the relief of side-stepping tragedy.
King reaches out pushing the tears off my face before gathering me into a warm hug. "You could've died. Promise me you won't do something like that again."
I hold him back. "I want to, but I can't make a promise like that."
Chapter Sixteen
Honesty
Working together with the other A.I.s we manage to get several of the tree houses walls up. There's still a ton of work to do on them; more walls, roofing and anything else we may decide to add.
Octavius and Arrow have stayed away from each other, but the tension they caused hasn't left the group. At least we don't have to worry about them killing each other.
"Velma, we still need those nails!" Pansy calls from inside the treehouse.
I stand in front of the metal working droid that dispenses nails and other metal fastenings. "It’s still making them!" My voice echoes over the jungle.
The bottom of the small droid opens to dispense the nails into the bucket it supplied us with earlier. It beeps and I take the bucket, before climbing the ladder we made from thick vines. Pansy takes the bucket before holding her hand out, she helps pull me up onto the deck of the first room in the so far three-room tree house.
Rosie lines up a board the droids made from the surrounding trees and hammers it to another board with a rock.
Several of the men yell in unison. From over the edge of the deck Pansy and I peer down at them as King, Herc, and Emerson work together to push down one of the nearby trees. They yell, egging each other one. The tree groans under their strength before a crack reverbs off the nearby mountains; it falls to the ground.
I roll my eyes. One the droids could’ve easily cut that down, but they had to go and show how strong they are. A sawblade droid begins cutting the tree into chucks so more boards can be made.
“Boys,” Pansy mutters before going to help Rosie lift another board up.
Now with their new supply of nails, the twins don’t need my help anymore. I climb down the vine-ladder. Maybe the guys building the fires will need my help.
Rounding the tree, I pause, Octavius stands bent over one of the fire pits, placing the large rocks just right. A grin spreads across my cheeks as I stare at his perky butt. Without a second of hesitation, I stride up behind him to place a firm smack on his ass. “Would you li-like some help?”
He snaps upright, his hand going to his backside. He stares at me for a moment before laughing. “We’re almost done forming the fire-pit circle. We pretty much just have to make sure we have enough kindling to keep them going throughout the darkness.”
I glance at the pile of leaves, branches and other things the guys found to burn. “Th-the fi-fires aren’t t-too big, th-that should hold us.” My hand covers my mouth, it’s been a while since I stuttered so much with just Octavius and me.
He reaches out for my hand, pulling it away from my face. “Are you okay?”
I frown. “Yeah. I’m n-not sure wh-what’s wrong.”
“Thirty minutes and twenty-two seconds until Darkness falls. All droids need to be in their stations or risk getting destroyed.”
I tense. The thick darkness and creatures will be back. This time we’re inside the jungle, their domain. What will come out to hunt us now?
The rough pad of Octavius’s thumb rubs soft circles into the top of my hand. “It’ll be okay. We have the fires a first line of defense and being up a tree where we can throw weapons if needed.”
I nod. “I know. I just hate not kn-knowing more about what to ex-expect.”
He takes the shock-pistol out of the holster at his back before firing it into the two fires nearest us, igniting the wood and leaves in an instant. The flames grow to their full height, eating everything they can consume.
He pulls me in and wraps his arm around my waist. “Come, my dear, we have fires to set.”
The noises that crescendo around us make it hard to want to sleep, even though it’s been at least twenty-four hours since I slept. The wolves were back the second the darkness fell, as if they were waiting. The fires have kept them from getting close to our grouping of trees, but that hasn’t stopped them from howling and pacing, long tongues flicking around the air.
The guys snore around me, King’s arm holding me tight against his body, while Echo holds my hand. They feel safe, but I can’t help but worry.
I shut my eyes. Okay, I need to sleep. I waited for the familiar sense of heaviness to overtake me, pull me away into a dreamland where monsters aren’t trying to ruin my life.
“I’m so tired, but I can’t sleep!” Rosie cries.
The men continue to snore. I unhook King’s arm from underneath me, trying hard not to wake him. Going to their section of the house, I find Rosie sitting up amongst her and Pansy’s men her sister out cold beside her. “I can’t sleep either.”
She stands, tip toeing around the sleeping bodies. Apparently, we’re the only ones not to be overtaken by exhaustion. Everything will be less cramped once we can add more rooms and branch out to the other trees with bridges and ziplines.
She grabs my hand, leading me to the third room where only half the floor is done. We sit on the edge. The fires below burn on hefty pieces of vine. Her grasp tightens on my hand. “Think we could tame one of those and the rest of them would leave us alone?”
I snort, keeping my voice low. “I think it will take us a few years of being here before any animal shows interest in letting us domesticate it.”
“True. We’ll have to wait. Maybe they’ll learn to get used to us.”
She laughs. "Yeah, maybe. Do you think this place will ever get less scary?" I nod. "I-I think y-you and me are more sensitive to this place th-than the others."
Rosie sighs. "Yeah. I don't think it's normal. Have you been feeli
ng weird since yesterday? I feel as if my emotions are all over the place and I have no control over them. My head's been killing me, too."
I shrug. "I got jealous of Tibby yesterday before she disappeared. That's out of character for me. But when I saw how gentle Arrow was being with her leg, I just felt annoyed."
She swings her legs. "Do you think she's still out there, alive?"
I shrug. “I don’t want her to be dead. But the likelihood of her still being alive out there, on her own, is slim.”
Rosie stares into the flames below us. “I think she was in love, and this project tore her away from them. I don’t know what I would’ve done in the same situation.”
I glance at her. “Did you ever talk to her?”
She snorts. “No. I’m certain she hated all of us. I saw her looking at pictures of a guy on her implant all the time.”
“You two should be asleep.”
We jump and glance over our shoulders at Arrow.
Rosie stares between the two of us before she lets go of my hand and yawns. “You know what? I think I can sleep now. I’m going to go cuddle up to Mikala.”
She stands and leaves us alone.
I focus back on the darkness of the jungle. “I can’t sleep. I’m tired, exhausted even, but I keep waking back up.”
Arrow comes to sit next to me. “It’ll get easier the more you get used to all this noise.”
A wolf below us howls, his tongue flicking through the air. I nod. “I know.”
“Bach mentioned he’s going to work on an app for our implants that will replicate the clocks the droids use to time the darkness. That way we can leave base without fear of being trapped while it’s dark.”
I lean forward and swing my legs. “That’ll come in handy. I do want to see more of the place.”
He laughs under his breath. “That it will. We’ll get to explore more once we have more done here.”
I nod. A silence falls between us as the jungle continues with its myriad of noises.
Arrow clears his throat. “I’m ready to talk about earlier. About what Octavius said.”
I glance at him, before turning my gaze to the pack growing under our feet, pacing. “Okay, I’m listening.”