Chapter 8 Ror’k
“I’m glad you decided to stay in New Franklin a little longer,” Roger said as we walked underneath the covered walkways toward the building on the opposite side of the settlement.
The sun was almost over the horizon now, and the calm of the night was settling over New Franklin, but the humans were still bustling about. They wouldn’t stop until the artificial lights turned off for the day.
“It’s a good change from the food production facilities.”
“I’ve visited one of the island facilities once,” Roger said. “The quietness was great at first, but it got old quickly. Boringest two days of my life.”
Roger was not wrong. For the hunters at the facility, there was work to keep them busy.
And like the hunters usually working on the mothership, they were older and no longer able to fight as well as they once did.
They were, however, more than capable of fighting off the occasional group of scourge that made it to the islands or whatever remote location our mothership decided to place our food facilities on that particular planet.
“It actually isn’t so bad here on Earth,” I said.
“Each island facility is unique, and the hunters working them could switch locations to change the scenery. On one of the other planets, we had to put the food facilities on these plateau formations, high up on the planet’s mountains.
There was nothing around but air and clouds, and the plants and animals we were raising.
And every location looked nearly identical. ”
“Damn! The hunters there must’ve felt like they were stuck in a time loop.
At least our islands have tons of plants and wildlife to study for those who like that kind of thing.
Kurt and Bailey seem to like it there. It was a great idea to build our research labs and facilities on the islands.
That was why I was visiting. The researcher types didn’t seem to mind living there at all.
They love it. It just isn’t the kind of place I could stay in for more than a few days. Maybe to heal up or relax.”
I understood. “The idyllic life isn’t for everyone. I realized when I was there that it didn’t suit me.”
“Isn’t it quiet up on the mothership as well?”
“Not at all! We didn’t have many places to go, but there were always hunters visiting either because they needed work on their shuttles, or they were injured.
And there were always new hunters to train.
Many faces cycled through, and there was never a lack of interactions.
And when one friendly face left, another came to take his place.
Plus, we were constantly getting communications and requests from the hunter groups on the ground.
Someone always needed us for something. It was busy work. ”
“That makes sense, actually. Especially the part about always being needed for something. I know the survivors, especially in the main survivor building, consider me their leader. It wasn’t really my choice; the role just fell in my lap.
I was injured and couldn’t forage, and no one else wanted to do it, so I had to stand up and do what had to be done. ”
I was surprised at how familiar the story sounded.
And it was only now that I realized how young this human was.
When we arrived on this planet, we researched their civilizations to facilitate communication with the hope of becoming allies in our fight against the scourge.
Many of their world leaders had been old males, stuck in their ways. This male did not look like them.
“You did very well,” I said sincerely.
He paused for a moment, like he didn’t know how to respond, then he simply said, “Thank you.”
“Humans must be difficult to lead.”
That had him chuckling. “Yes. Yes, we are.” He opened the door and gestured for me to step through.
We were greeted with a stench of too many bodies in one place. It reminded me of the mothership at the end of a long journey through the stars. I hoped I’d be able to recognize and pick out the scents.
“Ugh, I can’t wait for the weather to get warmer so we can air out these buildings. This one is worse than the main survivor building. It needs to be ventilated.”
As we went through the halls, some of the humans scurrying about watched us with curiosity, and others gave us a wide berth.
We stopped just outside a set of closed doors with clear windows on them.
A handful of lanky young males, still not yet fully grown, were inside.
Two of them were training with sticks like they were swords as the others looked on.
This type of training, while not directly translatable when fighting the scourge, helped hone a warrior’s reactions and improve discipline.
It also kept a ship full of hunters entertained as we flew through the stars to our next planet.
I found it oddly encouraging that human youngsters entertained themselves in the same way.
“Wait,” I said, stopping Roger before he opened the door. “You are one of the leaders; the youngsters will be on guard. Let me enter alone.”
Roger shrugged and stepped back away from the door and out of sight. I turned on the translator at my belt since these males would not have in-ear ones implanted.
The moment I stepped into the room, I knew we’d found them. These were the boys outside the storage room. But we still had no proof that they were the ones who had broken into the library.
“You, your stance needs to be wider,” I said. “And you are exposing your lower half.”
Every head turned to me, and the two who were training stilled.
A few of the youngsters looked visibly nervous, and one of them stepped back warily. But one of the males who was sparring was braver and more precocious. “Which one am I?” he asked.
“You are exposing yourself with every swing. Keep it tight and close. Large motions telegraph your intent. That is why your opponent keeps hitting you on the hip. Try it again,” I said, encouraging the two to spar.
The youngster followed instructions well and managed to disarm his larger, taller opponent.
“What about me?” asked the other one, picking up his stick again.
Now the others’ interests were piqued. All except one gathered around as I gave a short lesson about stance guarding. One of the younger males with a slight frame, light skin, and dark features stood out; his scent was all over the library.
“I am Ror’k. I used to train hunters up on the mothership. What do they call you?”
One by one, they gave their names, even the guarded one.
My eyes drifted over to the large knapsacks leaning against the wall.
Even with those, there was no way a tiny thing like him would have been able to carry away more than a few books at a time.
More of them had to have been involved unless they were hiding a wheeled cart somewhere, but that would have been easily noticeable.
After another round, I told them about the false alarm at the other building and asked them to let me or Roger know if they’d seen anything. Most of them were able to keep a neutral face and stance, but the one who refused to come close was clearly agitated.
According to what Roger had told me, these young males had traded with New Franklin several times in the past. But back then, they’d refused to actually step foot inside the walls, preferring to make their trades on neutral ground.
There had been more of them, and they had expressed no interest in staying behind settlement walls for any length of time.
This time when they’d shown up the two older males were missing, and they’d requested to join New Franklin permanently. They were quite close-lipped about what had happened to their group, and refused to talk about the missing ones.
With a few final words telling them they were welcome to look for me in the mothership building if they wanted more training, I left and joined Roger down the hall.
“They were in front of the storage room.”
Roger blew out of breath. “That’s one mystery solved. But we still don’t have proof they were the ones who broke into the library.”
“The one named Jason had been in the library. I recognize his scent.”
“His older brother Shawn is one of the missing boys. Young man by now. I don’t know how those kids did it, raising their younger brothers and friends during a bugpocalypse.”
“I overheard them saying something about needing to get them back. Could they mean their missing members?”
“Could be. But from where and who? And how does stealing from us help do that?”
I did not have answers.
“We’ll watch them and see if they lead us to the books on their own. I don’t want them to know we know just yet. Let’s see what other information we can get out of them. Find them again and train with them tomorrow.”
It was a good idea, methodical, and I saw what the other humans saw in Roger that he could not see in himself.
“Let’s see what my guards have found.”
We’d just gotten back into the community center when an out-of-breath Janice came running up to us. The male following right behind her was panting just as loudly.
“Roger!“ she exclaimed between jagged breaths. “Thank god. We—” She coughed and wheezed. “It’s missing. All of it. And…” She put a hand on her chest and huffed.
“Slow down, Nissa. Breathe.” Roger held her by the shoulders as it looked like the female was going to pass out from lack of air.
“The medical supplies in the community first aid station,” the male behind her said. “They’re all gone. We didn’t head straight back after the fire alarm and went to grab dinner instead. When we got back, everything was gone.”
“They also took our tablet. We couldn’t even call you to let you know,” the female said, finally calm enough to speak.
“Shit. It wasn’t just the library. Okay, tell me all the details again once we’re seated. We’ll use the meeting room. Let’s get everything recorded.”
Soon, more distraught humans approached us, each with a complaint of their own.
Most of the missing items were communicators and even a few weapons.
But one object stood out over the others.
A set of keys, which meant whoever had them now had access not only to New Franklin’s supply depots, but the armory as well.
With all the complaints lodged, Roger called a meeting with all the human community reps as well as the female guard leader I’d met earlier.
I didn’t know how it happened, but I got dragged to this meeting too, even though all I wanted to do was return to the library and find my beautiful Dottie and help tidy the rest of her space before whisking her off to my seldom-used shuttle for some privacy.
By the time the meeting ended and the guards were dispatched to conduct a full sweep for the missing items in the building housing the newest settlers—those boys among the recent arrivals—Dottie had already left.