[scifan] plantation - books one to three

by Stella Samiotou Fitzsimons

  gentlest people that ever lived. He apologizes a lot even when he hasn’t done anything wrong.

  Then, there’s Nya, an accomplished archer who never misses the target. She loves blowing

  things up. She always has her shock bow on her back and she even sleeps next to it. Nya is a tall,

  skinny girl, but wiry strong. Her simulation scores are as legendary as her stubbornness despite being only sixteen.

  Tilly is only a year older than Rabbit, she’s fourteen and has perfect vision and hearing. Doc

  says it’s as if they put special nerve implants in her brain when she was a baby. Tilly talks all the

  time and she likes me which gives her extra points. I like Tilly. Finn likes Tilly. Everybody likes

  Tilly.

  Zoe and Theo are the reason why we set up camp here and why we were able to put to work all

  the technology and devices we found at the abandoned facilities: solar energy panels, computers,

  touchpad radars, simulators, satellite control systems, electromagnetic accelerators, high-energy

  liquid lasers.

  Theo is a sixteen-year-old tech genius, trained to operate and create digital systems and devices.

  Zoe is eighteen and she knows everything when it comes to science and math. Her brain works at

  speeds so high, we watch for steam coming out of her skull. They both come from Plantation-1 and

  they escaped together.

  Zoe and Daphne are friends. Maybe because they’re both eighteen. Maybe because Zoe admires

  Daphne’s strength.

  We all know how to fight, some of us better than others. We all have learned how to survive

  under dire conditions. But we’re nothing without each other. We’d just be stray animals living day to

  day.

  Our rigorous training started in the plantations for reasons that we cannot fathom. We know that

  the aliens want us fit, strong and intelligent and that most of us disappear between the ages of

  seventeen and nineteen.

  We know that at least some are sent back to the villages and begin their lobotomized lives,

  hardly remembering anything of their past. But we are clueless as to what happens to the rest.

  The soothing effect of the shade helps everyone gradually relax. The good mood affects me

  positively. I’m ready to forgive Finn and even Damian.

  We talk at length about improving security and patrolling rounds and then we take a break while

  Theo and Zoe prepare their presentation of the new simulated battle they have designed on their

  touchpads.

  Finn comes and sits by me.

  “Are you still upset with me?”

  I move my head from left to right for an exaggerated “no”.

  “Are you okay?” he asks.

  “I’m fine, but enough with these meetings already.”

  “Meetings are a necessary evil, Freya. The only thing we truly have going for us so far is our

  partnership and the trust we share. We need to learn to think as one. We are going to need that in

  battle.”

  I pick up a stick and start writing numbers on the dirt. Then I draw a face, a woman’s face,

  maybe mine, maybe my mother’s. Finn grabs my right hand and stops me before I draw a moustache

  on the woman’s face.

  “You think Damian’s stronger than me, but I have my own set of skills. I’m in no more danger

  when I go out than he would be.”

  I know all about Finn’s skills. He’s a martial arts champion and has the suppleness of a feline.

  He hasn’t met a rock, wall or tree he hasn’t been able to climb yet. He knows how to manipulate high-energy lasers to hit distant targets, something that can be quite tricky. Finn at eighteen has an

  assortment of skills that we all envy, but Damian is almost a head taller than him and he’s older by

  two years. Damian has been free for six years. He’s as strong as a Sliman. He is by far the most

  skilled close contact fighter in the band with Daphne being a distant second.

  Rabbit and Scout come to sit with us. “We think we should take turns scanning the area from

  now on,” Scout begins.

  “Not even Damian could say no to that. We should all participate instead of asking for

  volunteers,” Rabbit adds.

  “This volunteering business is stupid, I agree,” I say, “but some people might not be as ready as

  others to go out there on their own.”

  “I hope you’re not talking about me,” Scout takes offense. “I was out there by myself for two

  months before I found you. I never get lost. I know every hiding place. I know about hidden caves and

  lost trails.”

  “We know that, Scout.” Finn puts a protective arm around her. “It’s a great idea that you have,

  but you are needed here, as are Doc, Theo and Zoe.”

  He doesn’t mention me. I’m not needed anywhere. And I’d probably be useless out there, too.

  “Why am I needed here?” Rabbit asks.

  “Who else could deliver a message if our systems failed? Who could do it faster than you?”

  Finn can convince anyone of anything. He needs to be kicked in the butt.

  Our conversation comes to an end when Zoe and Theo announce that they are ready for the

  presentation. Damian asks for everyone’s attention.

  “The new simulation software has been designed to allow us all to participate in the simulation

  at the same time.”

  Zoe’s face beams with pride. We have never done this before, it’s the first time the simulators

  will have enough capacity to handle twelve players at the same time. It seems like a new era is about

  to begin and we welcome it with cheers and cookies baked fresh by Biscuit.

  4

  I wake up at dawn feeling restless. I wrap my blanket around my shoulders and step out of the

  tent. It’s always a bit chilly at dawn no matter how hot the day.

  Finn is still asleep when I enter his tent on tiptoes. I poke him on the shoulder and he half-opens

  one eye.

  “I need to talk to you,” I whisper.

  “Is everything all right?”

  “No, nothing’s all right.” I tell him that I have been unfair, that I am sorry, that I don’t know why

  I reacted the way I did when he came back wounded.

  When I am done talking, he looks at me and laughs. “Wow. That was unexpected. I’ve never

  heard you apologize before.”

  “What do you mean? I apologize all the time,” I protest. “I always mess up and always end up

  having to say how sorry I am. And you love it every single time.”

  “Except you never mean it. It’s just your way of getting out of a situation that bothers you. This is

  different.”

  He’s right, but I have given him enough ammunition as it is. I’m not going to give him the

  satisfaction of seeing me squirm a little bit more.

  I shove him off the bed.

  He climbs right back up and asks me to go and let him sleep a bit longer, saying that he’s still

  very tired and that he accepts my apology.

  I’m about to make my exit when we hear the alarm. The alarm system was installed a long time

  ago in the camp and it has never gone off before.

  Finn jumps to his feet and I have to remind him that he’s injured and that he has to take it easy.

  We run to Damian’s tent which is the designated spot for gathering in case of an emergency. We

  find Damian talking to Theo. Soon everyone’s here and nobody knows what’s going on.

  “All right, we have a situation,” Damian begins. “Our radar has spotted unusual activity two

  miles to the west. Theo
says the movement is erratic and it’s not likely that it is the product of any form of highly intelligent life.”

  That should be comforting, but it’s not. The radar doesn’t report activity caused by anything

  shorter than five feet tall, an absolute necessity considering the abundance of small animals living in the forest.

  Theo spent endless hours developing and installing the software for the radar to make sure it

  would only alert us in the case of really big animals or Sliman. The aliens themselves are short but

  they are not an issue since they almost never leave the plantations, and if they do, they are guarded by Sliman.

  Damian presents us with two options: we can either send a squad out to check the area in

  question or we can just wait and follow the movement closely on the radar. Damian always opts for

  the waiting, something that strikes me as really odd for someone so volatile and hot-tempered. We

  take a vote. The outcome is the one Damian wanted. We wait.

  Theo monitors the radar activity on the screen of his touchpad. The tension is palpable among

  us. We struggle to stay patient and calm.

  “What do you think it might be?” Rabbit asks Finn.

  “I don’t know, maybe a sick beast of some type.”

  “I can run out there and be back before you know it,” Rabbit winks.

  “You heard Damian, we wait,” Finn says. He never questions authority, not in front of others

  anyway. He does not agree with Damian on all matters, but Finn respects hierarchy. He calls it a

  ‘soldier’s duty’, words he found in an old book in Lost Town. He will not contradict Damian in times

  of crisis. He fulfills Damian’s command. He stands fast and is faithful like no other.

  Theo glances up at the rest of us. Something’s wrong. “The pattern has changed,” he says. “This

  is not a beast. There’s a loose design to the way it’s moving. There’s intelligence involved and it’s

  getting closer.”

  Damian does what he always does, turns red. Veins pop up on his forehead and temples. “All

  your stupid gadgets, what good are they? We’ve wasted time waiting for that useless contraption to

  make up its mind when we should have gone out there and figured it out for ourselves.”

  “Don’t blame Theo, there’s no time for that,” Finn decides to intervene.

  “I think I can probably do something about this,” Theo promises.

  “I’m sure you could waste more time at least.” Damian cannot let go of his anger, we know that,

  but it’s still a surprise when Finn won’t let matters be. Not this time. He takes charge.

  “Rabbit, Scout and Daphne,” Finn commands, “you go with me. Go get your weapons.”

  Damian steps in front of Finn. “Are you giving the orders now?”

  “I’m organizing the scout team, following your last command to get out there and get eyes on

  what’s coming.”

  Daphne gets between the two of them, weapon in hand.

  “We’re ready,” she says nodding at Rabbit and Scout behind her.

  Damian lowers his head simmering. He locks his eyes on Daphne. “I’m going, too,” he says.

  “Doc, you’re in charge here.”

  They head out of the camp and my heart sinks. Then I remember something and walk over to

  Theo and Zoe. “You said you might be able to do something about this. What did you mean?”

  Theo hesitates for a moment before he decides. “Come with me.”

  Zoe and I follow Theo to his tech lair at the facilities base, a place crowded to discomfort with

  gadgets and devices. We call it his lab, where he and, to a lesser degree, Zoe unleash their genius to improve the technology that was originally developed by the aliens.

  The room is dark and damp, there’s odd machine pieces and scraps of paper everywhere. Theo

  likes to sketch out his inventions. He turns on a small lamp next to his gigantic computer screen and

  starts punching the keypad.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  “I will attempt to interfere with their communication satellite control systems. That usually

  makes Slimies turn around. They don’t like being cut off from their puppet masters.”

  “What do you want me to do to help?” Zoe asks.

  “Start up the correlator.”

  I don’t have to ask what that is because Zoe holds it in her hands already. It’s a tiny touchpad

  with a weird antenna that bleeps. Whatever it is that she does with it must be working because the

  code on Theo’s screen starts sliding effortlessly.

  I wish I could do something to help. Maybe the best thing is to stay out of the way. I’ve barely

  had a chance to make amends with Finn and now he’s out risking his life again.

  The touchpad in my pocket starts buzzing. I pull it out. Finn’s calling.

  “What’s up?” I yell into the screen.

  “Ouch, not so loud. Sliman. Six of them. Not sure what they’re looking for. They haven’t seen

  us. Monitoring their movement. Pass it on.”

  “Theo’s trying to cut off their communication,” I say but I’m not sure that he’s heard me. He’s

  offline.

  Theo tells me to go inform Doc. I’m not very good at waiting and he knows it so I welcome the

  suggestion.

  Doc sits in Damian’s chair at our headquarters. It’s obvious he takes his temporary role very

  seriously. He takes everything seriously.

  I tell him what Finn has reported and he sends the message out to everyone’s touchpads.

  “I have Nya up on the observatory tower ready with her explosive arrows. Biscuit and Tilly are

  at the gates,” he tells me. “Tilly will be able to spot the Sliman and give us time to get to the tunnel.”

  “Hey,” I protest, “we’re the Saviors. We’re trained, motivated and we are in the right. We

  cannot run away from our destiny forever. If we have to fight, we will fight. Isn’t that what we’re all about?”

  I don’t know who is more stunned with my sudden eagerness to engage the enemy, Doc or me.

  “You obviously spend a lot of time with Finn,” Doc laughs.

  “Someone has to watch out for him,” I say.

  “Did you know that he…”

  He never gets to finish his sentence. Theo rushes into the office, with Zoe close behind.

  “We did it. We cut them off from the communication satellite. You can see for yourself, they’re

  already retreating.”

  He hands Doc the touchpad with the radar graphs on the screen and I stick out my neck to take a

  look as well. We let out sighs of relief and then Doc informs Nya, Tilly and Biscuit.

  When Biscuit beats Tilly and Nya back to headquarters, he can barely breathe, but he’s smiling.

  “Does this mean we can eat?” he says. It’s a default joke for him, food and eating, because we always

  tease him about it. I doubt he has thought of eating at all during the alarm, but he plays his role.

  It’s not long before Damian, Daphne and the rest of the team gallop in through the main gates.

  Finn comes in last and I notice that he has a limp. I bite my lip not wanting to ruin the moment.

  He wasn’t ready for this so soon after his tumble into the ravine. But who is ever ready for Sliman

  anyway?

  The cheering and hugging is cut short when Damian speaks.

  “What happened today cannot happen again,” he snaps at Theo. “If you can’t get us accurate

  information quickly, stop using those devices.”

  “It won’t happen again. I will figure out what went wrong.” Theo’s head hangs down. He

  admires Damian and his approval is very i
mportant to him.

  I glance at Finn and realize he’s not going to say anything to Damian now that the danger has

  passed. And everybody else is either too young or too gullible to say anything in favor of Theo. It’s

  my time to step up.

  “The only reason you guys made it back to the camp safe is because Theo managed to cut off

  communication for the Slimies. He messed up their satellite frequencies or something. Right, Zoe?”

  Zoe looks as if I just poured hot oil on her. Damian goes redder than usual, if that was possible.

  He stares down at me with contempt.

  Daphne cuts in. “Give it a rest, Freya. We’re safe this time. Let us all learn from this and not

  repeat any of it.”

  “Why are we yelling at the one person who made sure we were safe?” I say.

  Finn takes me by the arm and pulls me out of headquarters.

  “What are you doing?” I ask him angrily as we head for our tents. “Do you agree with him?

  Should we let Damian’s temper dictate everything?”

  “What I think is that without discipline we’ve got nothing.”

  “You defied Damian, too, earlier.”

  “No, I didn’t. I just reminded him of what was important at the moment. Freya, you have things

  to learn like Daphne said. We all do.”

  He leaves me standing by the tents and heads back to headquarters. I’m furious, burning with the

  desire to break something. I feel a hot streak of tears run down my cheeks. That infuriates me even

  more.

  I feel helpless, useless and can’t make it stop. I want to do something, have another feeling, any

  feeling. Solutions never come to me. I’m not like Damian and Finn. All I manage to do is go inside

  Finn’s tent and steal his knife.

  5

  Finn and I have taken the morning off. Doc suggested this for Finn to speed his recovery and I

  decided to do the same so I can spend some time with him. Finn doesn’t know about it yet. Nor does

  he know that I am responsible for his knife missing. I already regret my momentary lapse in judgment

  but I don’t want him to know how stupid I can be. I will sneak in and put the knife back when he’s out on a mission or training.

  The sky is a wonderful clear blue today, not a single cloud is in sight. I can hear clanking and

  banging coming from the combat ring and that noise has come to be one of the most comforting sounds