Island Girls 2

by LaBraun, Rodzil

  The white moon was larger than the one that circled the Earth and it stayed in the sky most of the night. The smaller red one hung above the horizon for a couple hours before dropping out of sight. It made the sea look like blood. I may have been hallucinating, but I thought I saw more land masses in the distance before the red light faded away.

  CHAPTER SIX:

  Lin relieved me again just before sunrise with instructions to only let me sleep for two hours. It felt like I had just barely closed my eyes when she shook me back awake. She was obviously excited about something.

  "Joah," she said urgently. "You need to see this."

  "What's wrong?" Nancy asked as I was still trying to get my bearings.

  "You, too, Nancy. Come take a look. The sea," Lin told us. "It's almost gone."

  "How can the sea by gone?" Shira asked as I hurried to my feet and followed Lin and Nancy out the entrance. Gazing across the horizon I understood what Lin was saying. The water had receded like low tide. It never appeared very deep around our island before. But this new development had our beaches on the sides extend at least fifty feet both ways. The scattered pools of water close to the southern landing site were completely absent of waves. In the distance in all directions there was a shimmer to the surface that indicated that the sea was still there, just several feet lower than before.

  "I had noticed a variance in the tide," Lin told us. "The sea rose about a foot the day after our arrival, then dropped at least that much by yesterday evening. But this, this is a huge recession."

  "What do you make of it, Joah?" Nancy asked. I was certainly no expert on these things. I was also never one to claim to know something that I didn’t. But a leader needed to convey confidence.

  "Low tide," I replied. "Just like Lin said. It will probably rise again soon. I thought I saw land popping up when I watched the red moon fall below the horizon last night."

  "There was a red moon?" Lin asked. When I nodded, she said, "I think that might have been the first night that it was visible. It might be a sign of low tide. We'll have to keep a watch out for it."

  The shrinking ocean was a little freaky to see. It was kind of like waking up at your home to find that your yard had become a barren desert. We wouldn't likely be catching any fish today. Unless, of course, we decided to walk all the way over to the new water line. We still had some left in the refrigerator, so there was no need for more fishing until the sea rose again.

  "Hey guys," Nancy caught our attention. "Do you think that we can walk to those other islands now?"

  That was a very good question. We had thought previously that we could only reach them by boat. The amount of effort required to assemble a raft didn't seem worth it with no desirable qualities spotted on either land mass. But walking? Yeah, it would be worth a stroll just to check them out. That was assuming that the tide would not roll back in too quickly.

  "How long do you think it will stay this low?" I asked Lin.

  "I couldn't really say," she replied. "This is the first cycle that we have been able to witness."

  "Isn't there supposed to be a low tide and a high tide every day?" asked Nancy.

  "Not necessarily," Lin answered her. "And definitely not on this planet, it seems. My best guess is that it will take most of the day to rise back up to average sea level. Maybe longer. I don’t know. How long do you think it will take us to walk to the nearest island, Joah?"

  "It's maybe one klick away," I told her, not thinking.

  "What is a click?" she asked.

  "Oh, sorry. One kilometer. Even on questionable footing we could probably make it there in less than a half hour."

  We all looked at each other for a while, allowing each other's facial expressions to sway our opinion on the matter. I could tell that we were unanimously intrigued by the opportunity, even though there did not appear to be anything worth seeing on the islands from our current viewpoint. The best cure for boredom was adventure. Creating our own instead of waiting for it to come to us was even better.

  "I think we should go," I told them. "If it gives us any information at all, it will be worth it. Assuming we don't face any hazards beyond our abilities. Just some variety for us right now could be a morale boost. The only issue is Shira's condition. With just the one gun, we can't afford to split up. It's all of us or none of us I figure."

  Between her own desire to see the other island and not wanting to hold us back, Shira said that she was healthy enough to go. I told her that I was happy to carry her if her leg started hurting too bad. She assured me that she wouldn’t let it come to that. I couldn’t tell if it was pride or a preference to keep my hands off of her body.

  We gathered up all the throwing corals and the two spears that we had managed to make from driftwood. Along with the laser pistol, we hoped that it would be sufficient protection against the unknown. I had no desire to waste any more time before beginning the journey in case the sea water began to rise quickly. Our defensive abilities would be greatly reduced if we had to wade through deeper water to get back home.

  Home. It was weird calling the tiny island our home. We had only been there for a couple of days. It was like referring to a hotel room as home. Only for us, there was no real home to go back to after this vacation ended. Wherever we lay our hat is our home. Except, no hats had been provided.

  Some meandering was required to traverse the expanse between the two miniature islands on foot. We had chosen to visit the southeastern island first. Walking a straight line would have had us wading through more than three feet of royal blue sea water a few times. Colorful fish were still active despite this low tide phenomenon. I guessed that it was a regular occurrence for them all their lives. There was no reason for alarm.

  We had to circle one of the deeper pools around to the right when we were over halfway there. The ocean was still very clear considering the color of the liquid, allowing us to spot any abnormalities on the sea floor. A section of blue, purple and pink coral laid spread out more than twenty feet wide, rising above the surface in a few places. It resembled a building as much as a natural stone formation.

  We paused briefly to admire the incredible sight, pointing out different sections. A variety of shades spread across the unique sections like artwork. Snorkeling in the ocean was very popular when I was on Earth. This was the kind of thing that people hoped to see with their faces below the water line, plastic flippers on their feet.

  When one of the sea monsters like we faced on our island swam out of a small opening, we quickly backed away. It had to notice us standing there as it swam back and forth in front of its home. When it was joined by another shortly thereafter, we decided to move along. The beautiful sea rock was apparently their home. These may be the same fuckers that attacked us. Some of the throwing stars in our pockets matched the colors of the coral there.

  I had Lin and Nancy lead with the spears as we continued. I brought up the rear with the pistol, keeping a close eye on our flank. Those fish men had attacked us on dry land. There was no reason to think that they wouldn't come chasing after us now. Since the deeper areas gave them an advantage, we took extra care to avoid those places.

  The footing was pleasantly decent for most of the trip. Wet sand like on the beach where a wave had just rolled in was roughly what it was like. A couple slick rocky sections slowed our pace, but I was happy with the amount of elapsed time when we finally arrived. The best news was that there was no significant rise of sea level during that time.

  Our target destination looked a lot like our place, only without a building. Tall trees, bushes, even a grassy section in the middle. The shape of the small section of land was identical to ours. There were beaches on the east and west, rocky sections to the north and south. First inclination was that the place had been designed that way, but it was possible that it was a naturally occurring formation to withstand erosion.

  If we ever ran out of berries or bowling ball fruit on our island, we could always make a shopping run over here durin
g low tide. That seemed to be the only information about the island to make the journey worthwhile until we found a metallic surface embedded into the ground near the center of the island. Ten feet long by six feet wide and completely smooth on top.

  "What is it?" Nancy asked.

  "Power, I'm thinking. Maybe clean water, too," I answered. "We probably have one just like it below our new house."

  "So," Lin said. "They plan to put people on this island as well."

  "Looks like it."

  "We are still in the game, then," Lin said, pausing for a deep breath. "We're just earlier than the other teams."

  "God dammit!" Nancy shouted, alarming us with her outburst. She kicked at the ground to toss some sand onto the shiny metal before saying, "Can't they just let us live in peace?"

  It was Shira that was standing closest to Nancy at the time. When she placed her arm around my wife, Nancy turned and gave her a full embrace. The morale boost that I had desperately hoped for was not to be had, evidently. At least we did gain some valuable knowledge.

  There was nothing else of value to see so we decided to head back home and assume that the western island was identical to this one. It was much farther to reach from this point anyway. Our home was almost situated between the two.

  The sea had rose several inches while we were on dry land. Places that were only ankle deep were nearly knee deep on our return. It was not much of a change mathematically, but it was still a bit alarming. It made us rush a little faster than we otherwise would have. More fish monsters swam around their coral fortress as we passed, but none approached us. Fortunately, we made it back to our island without incident. That in itself registered in my mind as a success.

  Instead of resting once back in our house, the women decided to prepare lunch. They cooked most of the fish left over from the previous day. The mood was solemn as they went about their food preparation. I decided to make constant patrol rounds while I waited on the meal. Our little trip may have announced our presence to more natives. For all I knew there were hundreds of them focused on out island.

  I didn't spot any trouble, but I could clearly see the tide roll back in as I went. I estimated that sea level would return to its highest point around nightfall. But mostly, I spent my time thinking about the future.

  How long did we have before our captors placed an opposing team on one of these other islands? What would the games be like when they did? There probably wouldn't be an arena like the last place. Unless it was on that island to the north. We could only see a cliff wall facing us from there. Or, would we need to fend off attacks here, like we did with the robotic spiders and native sea creatures?

  The visit to the other island did not answer all of our questions. Not even close. It just narrowed down the broad spectrum of what the hell was going on. Even that was pure speculation.

  "So, Joah," Lin addressed me during lunch. We had decided to eat indoors. A breeze had picked up and was throwing the fine granules of sand into the air. In the very center of our new paradise home was a low rectangular table with a comfortably padded sofa on each side. I took it as the living room when we first arrived, but it turned out to be multipurpose.

  The table could be lifted easily by hand. When it rose, two panels on the top split to slide over the edges of the surface beneath, placing them close to the sofas. When they locked in place, we ended up with a large square table at the right height for dining. Each sofa could hold three people. It was sort of a flash from my past, resembling a VIP table in a club for six people. Were we to expect more residents here then?

  Lin asked, "What do we do now?" When I didn't reply right away due to chewing up a thicker piece of cooked kelp, she continued. "I mean, we have an idea what they are planning for us, but this planet is much different than the simulation on the ship. We have options here that we didn't up there."

  "What do you consider to be our options?"

  "Well, Nancy and Shira and I were talking. Nothing prevented us from visiting that other island, at least during low tide. We could strip them of their resources before any other team arrives to give us an advantage."

  "Interesting," I replied. "Of course, our captors could compensate by providing them plenty of food via shuttle, supply drop, or even inside an insect robot."

  "True," Lin replied, obviously having already considered that possibility. "But they might not. That is one option, anyway. Another is that we watch for building activity on the other islands. They have to send a ship, right? The sea monsters won't rise up to build the place. So, we attack the ship and get off this planet."

  "That sounds as dangerous as our escape from the starship to me. We lost two people in those battles, remember? And, once we get into space, where do we go? Assuming that we could operate the shuttle to begin with. Back to the starship? Wouldn't that be like out of the frying pan and into the fire?"

  "Maybe," Lin answered. Apparently, the three women were allowing her to be their spokesperson. She was best suited among them. I could see her addressing a board meeting pitching her ideas. Business minded, yet somehow remarkably different than Nancy. A leader more than a follower. "Likely even, but it is an option. We could also try to reach the island to the north."

  "By foot?"

  "No, probably not. But we have those rubber tubes that inflate. Maybe we could build a raft? Since that land mass doesn't match these three, we could possibly learn a lot more by visiting it."

  "Well," I answered. "That's my favorite option, so far. But it is still not without challenges, though."

  "I know," Lin said.

  "What else did you come up with?"

  "Just stay here and live life like normal people," she shrugged. "As normal as can be in our situation. Face whatever they throw at us, but don't let it consume us. Maybe find a little happiness before we are all killed off."

  "Really, Lin? You consider that a legitimate option?"

  She shook her head and replied, "Not me personally."

  "That's what I prefer," Nancy finally spoke up. "I'm so tired of our struggle. And if our race is extinct except for us, how much longer can we really last? Years? Not likely. Months? Maybe, but not if we go looking for trouble. Days? If so, why don't we enjoy those precious days instead."

  "Nancy, you seriously want me to just sit here and do nothing? It's not in my nature."

  "I know," she replied, bobbing her head, eyes down. "But I think that you should consider it."

  "I agree," Shira added. She refrained from following up with any additionally logic to support the suggestion. Neither of them looked like they expected their plan to go over well with me.

  "You both want to treat this like a retirement vacation?" I asked them, a little surprised at what I was hearing. I shouldn't be, though. I had seen it before in soldiers. They had enough of the fighting and basically just wanted to lay down and die. It came from fear. It came from being tired as well, both physically and emotionally. The leaders had to watch for depression like this among their troops. Then combat it with whatever worked for those individuals.

  Patriotism? Many soldiers responded well to being reminded of their duty to their country. But that obviously wouldn't work here, unless it was a duty to our dying species. I didn't expect any of these three to be terribly motivated by that concern.

  How about the overwhelming desire to see your loved ones again? Most soldiers used that alone as the drive to survive. However, again, it didn't apply to us. Everyone that we ever knew and loved before were long gone. There was no one to return to. We, us four at this table, were our only family.

  So, survival of the group, then? Make them feel obligated to our tribe to keep pushing for possibilities to extend our lives. Do your part, don't let down your friends. That could work, if the majority wanted to live long lives.

  "If I decide that I want to keep trying to get off this island, what will you all do?"

  Nancy replied first, no hesitation, "I'll go where you go. I know how you feel about me, about us. If
you think it is in our best interest to leave, I will continue to follow you."

  "Me, too," Shira said. "I don't want to spend my last days fighting with my friends. As much as I would like to chill out right now, I won't let you guys down if you need me in your plans. I'm with you three, no matter what you decide."

  "I feel the same way," said Lin. "But only if the decision is to do something. If the three of you all decide to lay down and die, I'll be planning my escape without you."

  They couldn't have made my decision any easier, could they? My three female companions would all follow me if I chose to keep fighting against this captivity. And that was exactly what I planned to do. There was no additional thinking required, except for the specific course of action.

  Before I could inform them of what I wanted to do, I heard a roar in the wind outside. It was a sound that we had never heard before, and it instantly caught our attention. We scrambled to our feet and grabbed our weapons as we cautiously approached the entrance of our paradise home.