Need No Tech. No Mech

Graham Heights 

Rainier

Wikipedia

Chapter 53
Need No Tech.  No Mech!

Journal Entry - August 31 2096

Julia Scott

It took almost three days to convince this young girl, in her early teens, that we were not here to hurt her or her people.  Nor to take away their waterhole.  We were simply here to fix a machine and leave.

In that time, we discovered that her people were originally held up on the East side of the mountains closer to the coast.  The Seahairsa mountains or something like that.  Either way, it did not sound like it was anywhere near here.  So, decades after the blackout, some machines moved in and took control of the buildings and towns near their village.  They were forced to work for the machines or leave.  Those that worked for the machines we putting sunshine into tubes so the machines could operation.  Really not sure what that meant, but heading into the wilderness seem preferable to most, so many chose to leave.  They traveled East to the great mountains and then South.  To this land of three rivers.  It was nomadic, but there was food and shelter and after a couple of generations they knew where the rivers run best during the year and where game and fish would be.  The desert itself grew different types of plants that were for eating or healing wounds and by all appearances no one wanted to take this land from them.

That is why Oocha wanted to know if we controlled the Mech (Jordy) or if Jordy controlled us.  It took days for us to convince her that we were working together…

Jordy was still wanting to head off with the other two AIs to find Bart, Luke, BL four and of course buster, but Julia thought that that would make the situation worse.  These people had a really bad experience with robots or AIs and they were not going to just let them come in and take over another village.  No, we had to provide something to them, knowledge or a gift of some sort. Besides they needed these people as allies for the next six months.  If we provoked them, they could attack or worse, sell them out for goods to any who inquired.  

Oocha seemed very interested in their growing operation.  So, Julia showed her how it worked, with exception of the fish they did not have yet.  Of course she left out a few details so that it could be used as a bargaining chip.  

At first Oocha did not believe that plants could grow on rafts in the water, but the rapid growth of the plants in the tanks was hard to argue.  

Jordy was torn between heading out to the lake by himself or waiting to see what Oocha would tell them.  He did however, scout the area to ensure that they were not surrounded by these nomadic people.  Either way everyone of us felt the pressure of time as it marched on without know what was happening to Bart and his party.  By the fourth day Julia had made a lot of progress with Oocha and she agreed to help us with her people.

This was the hard part, she had to leave on her own.  If they saw her with anyone, they would assume she had betrayed them and she would be killed along with any strangers.  So on day five we gave her the cloths she walked in with, water, and some rations.  

An agonizing two days later Jordy announced that people were approaching the site.  The two AIs and Jordy positioned themselves at the door of the Assembly building while Julia, Tommy and Lisa waited in the opening.  

The first two over the horizon were Bart and Luke.  Followed by Buster and B-L four.  This was the good part.  The next group over the hill was Oocha and three  men.  They did not seem happy that strangers were in their land.  All three carried large sticks with feathers and ribbons flying from them.  They walked with long strides and their loose clothing seemed flow around them.  

Bart and Luke walked up to us and Lisa ran out and hugged Luke.  You could see bruising on both men and Bart had dried blood on his face.  Oocha and the three men stopped at the base of the hill and did not approach.

Buster and B-L four walked past the humans and into the assembly building.  B-L four was holding his left arm, which appeared to be damaged.  

Oocha yelled, “Show chor mechs!”

Julia motioned for Jordy to show himself.  Jordy walked to the door and stopped.  As one they all stepped out into the light.  

The three men stepped back and suddenly on the ridge to their little valley stood at least a hundred men.  Everyone just froze.  

Jordy was in communication with the other two AIs and could instruct them to join him or any number of commands to help them if this becomes a fight.  But for now everyone just stood their.  

“Is this what you want! A fight.” Julia yelled to Oocha

“If we want fight.  We not give you… people.” Oocha said.  “We no like to seeing mechs.” Oocha took two steps toward Julia.

Julia matched it by double and Jordy followed.  He was still ready to command his brethren, but if this worked, it would be a better solution for the time that they were going to be here.  

Oocha moved forward again and waved for her companions to join her.  They reluctantly did so.  Probably so that they did not appear to be weaker than a little girl.  No matter the reason, Oocha and Julia kept moving forward and the men and Jordy followed.  The mood was tense, but getting better.  Finally they were at a slow but smooth walking pace until they were within five meters.  

Oocha bowed her head and said, “Our Chief, Mano De Marron”

Julia bowed her head slightly, “I am Julia, Elder of Rainier.”  She didn’t want to say much more as she still had the bracelet on.  So, she was definitely not in charge.

Mano De Marron was short but well muscular.  He had two tattoos on his face as well as scars along his cheek and above his right eye.  He stepped forward, “What of Mech?”

Jordy responded, “I am Jordy, Liaison for The One World organization.”

Mano De Marron, “What is lay-zon?” a slight pause, “And Un Word?”

Julia took the lead on this, “Jordy is responsible for contacting humans like us and let them know that there is technology that can help them.”

Mano De Marron, “Need no tech. No mech.”  He waved his hand in dismissal. “No gut for us.”

Julia needed them to want something, “What about the growing of food?”

Mano De Marron waved her comment away, “Land is good.”  He shook his head, “No need.”

Julia knew this was a posturing thing.  Mano De Marron needed his people to think he was in charge of this conversation.  “What if we want to give you a gift, no tech.”

“No tech.  No mech.” repeated Mano De Marron.

“We grow food on the water and given the right circumstances it will grow twice as fast as on land.”  Julia was explaining.  

“Growing food brings otters.” Mano De Marron said in discuss.

“Not if it’s in the middle of lake.” Julia offered.

“Then we can’t get eiter.” Mano De Marron was shaking his head.

“We can teach you how to swim and make boats.” Julia offered.

“What is.. swim?” Mano De Marron asked

“Moving through water that is over you head.” Julia mimic swimming.

“Do you..swim?” Asked Mano De Marron gesturing towards Julia

“Yes, quite well.” Julia said.

“So us make deal.” Mano De Marron was thinking out loud. “You teach us tings while you stay here.”  He paused, “And you teach Mano to...swim.”

“What things do you want to know?”  Julia asked, it was such an open statement that it could mean anything and their deal could fall apart if they didn’t like what was being taught.  

“We need know what is beyond tree rivers.”  Mano De Marron paused to think of other things that might be useful. “What Rainier and  Un Word is? And Where?”  Mano De Marron turned to think more then. “Oocha, you make list.  Give her.”

The conversation was over and Mano De Marron started walking away.  Julia was not done with him and they still needed the fish. “Mano, please we need to discuss why our men went to the lake.”   Mano De Marron did not turn around.  Julia needed him to give permission to get the fish.  “Sir, please hear me.”

Oocha stepped in the way, “He done talking.”

Julia changed her focus to Oocha, “We need small fish that swim in the river to make our growing operation work.”  Julia looked after Mano De Marron, “Can you get him to let us collect some fish for our tanks?”

“I got fish.” And she reached into her pouch to pull out a dried fish.

“No, not dead.” Julia was trying to remain diplomatic, “They need to be alive.” and she made a fish swimming motion with her hand.

Oocha, “diss cost you.”  She paused, “You  teach planting ting and make words.”

Julia was surprised, “You want to learn how to write?”

Oocha shook her head, “No, make words.”

Julia suspected that there was more going on here. “Why do you need words.”

Oocha looked insecure and all of thirteen again, “I need be best wife.” She paused, “Know tings oters don’t.”

Next Chapter

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If you like Graham Heights, please share the link with friends www.rogeratlarge.com.

As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.

Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss

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Thank-you
R. A. Legg

Learn about the individual heroes of Graham Heights. 

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Our New Home

Graham Heights 

Rainier

Chapter 52
Our New Home

Journal Entry - August 31 2096

Lieutenant Knorack

Sitting in quarantine for three weeks was almost as painful as waiting for my wife to go into labor.  You can see the goal, but you just have to wait for it to come to you.  I’ve tried to busy myself with the information that Tiff gave me, but something about this whole situation just smelled wrong.  

The lie she used to visit me, the fact that she stashed the files in the video game system which was not “on line” and the that she gave him a chip that had… her personality in it.  First of all these things were a bit underhanded.  And Why give me the chip?  What kind of maintenance was she undergoing that she would have to safeguard her personality in a chip and give it to me?  

I’m going to have to do some investigation into this when I get aboard the colony ship.  There was no telling when they were going to ship Tiff up to the ship, so I should have some time to look into this before I give her the chip. And the worst part is. I never knew her real name.  I must have seen it a hundred times in reports, but I just skipped over it.  T01..something...  

Lorin was standing near the door with Paul and Samantha while Jason checked each room to ensure they did not leave anything behind.  In actuality he was retrieving the chip Tiff had given him, but in such close quarters he didn’t want anyone one the family to know about it.  It was a safeguard really.  This way they didn’t have to lie.  

Jason had taped the chip to the underside of the toilet’s tank, so when he inspected the bathroom,  he retrieved the chip and taped it to his left armpit.  Once in their new quarters he will have to find a new hiding place until he could figure out what to do next.  

With everything packed, checked and well, ready.  Jason headed for the door.  According to the departure briefing that they had at 6 am this morning, followed by a delivery of the jumpsuits.  They would all be given pressure suits when they were moved to the disembark chamber.  So they needed to be in their jump suits and booties before they left their quarters.  Their flight was for military personnel and dependents only so, it would be just a few people and mostly cargo.

Things went quickly at first.  Once in their pressure suits, minus their helmets, the Knorack family and everyone else filed into the ship.  The crew members were all humans, or at least they appeared to be.  Our crew chief took us through the checklist one last time and we stowed our emergency oxygen tanks below our seats.  Once we were sat down and strapped in tight, the two crew members lowered the helmets and fasten them to our suits.  If you were closefisted this was going to suck.  This process was somewhat time consuming with two people trying to help fourteen other and since Jason was on the end, his helmet was secured first and he had to wait forever for the crew members to be done with everyone else.  With one last visual check the two crewmen climbed up into the cockpit.  The captain came over the intercom and told everyone what was going to happen, even though we had been briefed just a few hours ago.   You could hear some heavy breathing coming from a few of the dependents, but on the most part the waiting was become tedious.

The spaceship was raised to the deck of the Creatos.  The catapult connection seemed overly harsh and then the ships system started coming to life.  You could hear fluid surging through pipes and the engines starting to whine and growl.  

Then without warning they launched.  Briefings be damned!  The launch was terrifying.  Lorin put her hand on Jason’s arm and clamped down.  A quick look to the left and Jason could see that Samantha was not doing much better.  Paul was just screaming his lungs out and they were not alone.   Everyone was going through some type of trauma and then the G-forces just ripped the breath right out of you.  The relenting force pulled at you for so long that you had to take a breath.  It was hard but doable.  Then another breath and things got easier.  The force subsided just a little and then Jason tied to get Samantha’s attention.  She had her head back and eyes tightly shut.   

Once she opened her eyes and looked in Jason’s direction, Jason yelled, “Grab your brother’s hand!”

At first she just stared and then on the second command to grab her brother.  That seemed to help.  About the time you got use to the G-force it was all over.  They were in space and the forces went hundred and eighty degrees in the other direction.  Which is to say, there wasn’t any force on you at all..  

The engines throttled back and their noise quieted to a rumble.  The captain’s voice broke through and announced that they were in space.   “Welcome to Orbit.”  there was a slight pause, “We will be docking with the Mayflower in about three hours.”  

Being weightless was not as fun as it sounded on Earth.  We were not allowed to get out of our harness, so we were bored and if you tried to go to sleep, your mind tried to fill the void of no gravity with all sorts of crazy ideas.  After two such dreams Jason tried to busy himself with what he would do once aboard the ship.  He was being assigned to an information management station.  Jason knew the broad strokes, but none of the specifics, so his imaginations was trying to fill in those blanks as well.

WIth little to go on Jason’s thoughts returned to their current location.  This compartment that they were in.  According to the briefing, it, would be transferred to the ship’s central transport channel and then they would end up in one of the sixty habitat segments.  By the time they finish the trip, they would be back in an environment that had gravity.  

Until then, Jason only had a bulkhead to look at.  He tried to imagine their ship coming in over the drive section of the MayFlower and  into its aft Cargo bay.  From the drawings that he had seen, the ship was not only big, but beautiful.  It had sixty habitat areas that rotated around the central Core.  The Forward section was for storage, command, and shield generators.  The Aft section was the location of twelve fusion reactors and eight massive ion and pulsar drives.  These massive  engines would eventually be able to produce almost .5 g's of acceleration.  And are designed to run for a hundred years before they have to be refueled.  According to the data, the ship had close to six hundred years worth of fuel safely stored in the central core.  

The Captain broke in on Jason’s thoughts, “Your attention please.  We are about to rendezvous with the space tug Spartacus.  It will take us the rest of the trip.  Once we have been transferred to the arrival stations we will move the entire cargo compartment to the I.T.S.,  internal transit system.”  There was a slight pause. “From there you will be transported to your habitat area.”  A longer pause.  “Forgive the interruption we were communicating with the tug.  You will know that your trip is over by the evidence of gravity that will pin you to your seats.  The local personnel will open the compartment and assist you out of your suits and into you new world” Another pause. “And lastly.  Welcome to the Colony Ship MayFlower.”

With that the speakers went silent.  After a few minutes of silence we could hear the ship connecting to the tug.  And then a few gentle adjustment in our direction and speed.  We had to imagine everything else that was going on, because there were no windows in this “cargo container.”  Jason imagined the bay doors opening and our arrival.  Once in the bay the ship would be deposited in the magnetic constrictors while its cargo container was removed.    We would then be moved to one of sixteen elevators that would take us from the zero gravity center of the ship to our 1g compartments rotating around the edge of the ship.  This part of the trip was extremely difficult to judge as our movements were slow and purposeful.  The changes in speed or direction were so small that we just could not feel them.  Then about twenty minutes after landing, gravity started to return.  It was slow at first and then when they stopped it was momentarily intense.  

It was another five minutes before anyone heard or felt anything.  The roof of the cargo contain just suddenly lifted off and light flooded the compartment.  After your eyes adjusted you could see the roof returned the way we’d come.  The shaft was hug as the lid slowly accelerated away to the center of the ship.  This was disorienting as it was headed up, which was down, sort of.  What was left of the walls, then folded down on both sides of the container.  Once they were down about two dozen people, all in orange jumpsuits, descended on us.  Helmets came off first then the restraints were removed.  Each person was helped to their feet and guided to the processing stations.  The gravity felt about right, but the floor had a particular motion that took a second to get use to.   

In the station the pressure suit was removed and you checked in with you bio scanner.  Once through the station everyone was led to a central chamber that ran for at least one hundred meters.  This area was green with plants and grass.  It was like a park.  Along each side were multiple levels of balconies, doors and windows, presumably individuals homes.   There were elevators placed about fifty meters apart on both sides.  It was explained that they were in the central assemble area and park.  Everyone was encouraged to spend as much times as they needed in this open area to avoid certain types depression brought on by the confines of the ship.

A young woman led Jason and his family to the second level and about halfway down the parkway.  Then she opened our door and allowed us to get acquainted with the space.  It became very apparent as to why they encouraged us to spend time in the open areas.  Our quarters were small.  Less than fifty cubic meters and everything was a sterile white.  The upside was that we had our own toilet and shower facilities.  

The kids had bunk beds that folded out from the wall with only a curtain to separate them from the main room.  The main room also had the couch that somehow could be made into a table. The kitchen was open to the main room and beyond that was the  access to the main bedroom and bathroom.  

Lorin stopped short as she entered.  “You have got to be kidding me.” was all she said.  She took in the entire room, which did not take much and looked at Jason.  “Please tell me this is a joke.”

Jason knew that this was not joke, “They have to cram nearly three thousand people on this ship.”

“Jason, this is where we are going to live for three hundred years!” Lorin shot back.

Jason counted, “We will be in stasis for most of that time.” he did a slight pause to see if she was listening, “And it’s more like five hundred and fifty years.”

“Jason, there’s four of us” Lorin said as if it should mean more.

“I guess that’s why they encouraged us to be out there in the open area.” Jason said as he pushed his way to the bedroom to put down his luggage.  Looking back, “I guess that’s why they limited us on our personal belongings.”  Nothing he said was going to fix the size of their quarters, but there was no use in complaining, everyone would be as limited as they were.  He was just glad they didn’t have any more kids.  

In storage they had plenty of linens and jumpsuits for each of them.  The civilians were… white and the workers were a variety of colors depending on where you worked and what your task was.  

There was a knock on the door and everyone just looked at it.  Finally Jason walked over and activated the door opener, the door retracted into the wall.  To his surprise Tiffy was standing outside their quarters.

Next Chapter

Please add a comment.

If you like Graham Heights, please share the link with friends www.rogeratlarge.com.

As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.

Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss

You can Leave a comment.  

Or follow us on Facebook.  

Or hit the subscribe button to get updates on new chapters or books.

Thank-you
R. A. Legg

Learn about the individual heroes of Graham Heights. 

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Oocha

Graham Heights 

Rainier

Pixabay

Chapter 51
Oocha

Journal Entry - August 15th 2095
Julia Scott

Here’s a good questions.  How do you live in a place for six months, with two weeks worth of supplies and a trickle of water.  For a machine, it’s simple, just make power with solar cells, for humans it’s impossible.  

We have found some storage and a small amount of food, but nothing that could sustain us for six months…

Bart had just come back with Luke before Sat Comm Three was to crest the horizon.  They were careful to cover their tracks and make sure they left everything as close to how they found it before they ventured out.  This was working on two weeks now.  Since both Sat Comm Two and Sat Comm three could possible see their activities, it made it difficult to stay out for more than four to six hours.  You had to make sure you were close as these two spies had a tendency to change their schedules slightly.  Luckily we were in a valley and it gave us about an hour more time than in the open plains like Spokane or Yakima.  

To date we have a small well that delivered about twenty gallons of water per day. Two storage units filled with dried food wafers that tasted bad, but had a daily dose of vitamins, minerals and proteins necessary to sustain life.  We also found a storage container that was labeled to be transported on a future mission.  It was full of seed, like vegetables and flowers. However growing anything here was near impossible.  One, it would be spotted on the first pass of a spy.  Second, the soil couldn’t produce a tuber let along a plant. And finally, we simply could not produce enough water to keep a six plus acre farm moist enough to grow.

They kicked around the idea of a hydroponic garden, however they would need a some type of fish or aquatic animal to provide the nitrates needed to fertilize the plants.  Using human waste was ruled out simply because they didn’t have a chemistry kit that would test when the nitrates got too high.  So, it was up to this group to find a lake, river or pond with aquatic life.  After three days of searching the local area and finding nothing.  They were ready to give up on the whole idea.  However, Jordy suggested an  idea that seemed too far fetched to work, but considering the alternative, what choice did they have.   

While the humans were scurrying around to survive, Jordy had started the cryogenic compressors and before the juice ran out, got twenty five kilos of liquid oxygen.  Armed with a way to preserve the fish in cryogenic suspension they could travel several days to a lake North of Pesco.  There they could collect a few hundred small specimens and suspend them in a cryogenic state for the trip home.   The specimens had to be less than an inch long, as larger organisms can not go through the process faster enough to prevent ice crystals from damaging their cells.   

This fishing adventure would  consist of Bark, Luke, Buster and one of the worker AIs, who actually had a name;, B-L Four.  The group was scheduled to hike twenty miles a day, about the limit of B-L Four.  These AIs were not the talkative type but Luke had to break the ice if he was going to spend the next week with this machine, “So what does B-L stand for.  

B-L Four did not acknowledge the question at first.  He was busy packing the liquid oxygen and storage devices in buster’s storage compartments.  Once the task was done he turned to Luke, “bipedal-mechanical logistic unit number four.” The unit then turned and left the group.

Luke looked at Bart, “Talkative little… thing.”

Julia walked up behind Bart, “I don’t think talking to humans was a priority where they were working.”  She watched the retreating machine, “I heard Jordy speaking to some of these machines when they first arrived.  It was more like clicks and beeps.” She was trying to recall her programming classes, “Like a binary code instead of words.”

B-L Four emerged from the building a second time with what looked like a backpack.  Jordy was with him.  They exchanged some clicks and beeps and then Jordy addressed the group. “B-L Four will endeavor to communicate with you more.  He will clear some memory storage to accommodate the linguistic data base I just gave him.”  He looked at B-L Four, “However, he will not have any emotional inflections to accompany his words.”  Jordy looked at the group, “Our builders did not require such sophistication from these AIs.  They do learn and they will adapt and keep you safe, but that too is limited.” Jordy looked at Bart, “Stay together, keep each other safe and good hunting.”

As the sun feld into the West, Luke and Bart shouldered their packs and fasten down their water bottles and headed East.  Buster was leading the way and B-L Four was taking up the rear.   They would travel by moonlight until Sat Comm 2 was up at 1:37 am, then move again until 10:23 am.  At this point Sat Comm 3 will have made its pass and they will be able to rest and recharge.  When the heat of the day was done, they would continue again.  If all goes well the moon’s light will provide them with more than enough light for the duration of the trip.  

While the two men were gone Julia, Tommy and Lisa made the final touches to the hydronic greenhouse.  Since it could not be out in the open, Jordy had fabricated some solar tubes to direct light to the garden.  These solar tubes were easy to hide when the spies flew over and yet produced an enormous amount of light when exposed to the sun.  If water collection continued on schedule, the system would be more than half full by the time Bart and crew returned with the… fish or what every they could find.    The seedlings were already planted in a bed of sagebrush, soil and human waste.  It would dissipate as the plants were grown and the water was added.  The sagebrush was weaved together as much as you could do that.  Nylon cord was used to bound the mass together, then the rest was broken into branches and laid on top.  This was an ancient Aztec design.  Once the bed was dense enough, some fabric was spread over it and rocks and soil was added.   These planting beds were then placed in the vats with the water.  They floated freely around the vats.  In a few days, if all goes well we should see some sprouts.  

On August 12th we expected to see Bart and Luke by morning, however no one came that day or the next.  I was getting worried, but Jordy said that if something happened, buster would have sent out a signal.  It was his contention that it took them longer to find specimens that they could bring back.  By the fifteenth even Jordy did not like the fact that the party had not returned.  

Jordy spent the afternoon at the charging station, which meant that the was going out after Bart and Luke, or was he more interested in getting buster back.  

Julia walked up to the station and announced herself, “Jordy.  Jordy, I want to go.”

At first Jordy said nothing.

Julia spoke up louder, “Jordy!”

Still nothing.

Julia knew that Jordy would not turn himself all the way off like he did in her office.  He had not done that since they left and there would be no reason for him to change that, so he was just ignoring her.  “Damn it Jordy, I know you can hear me.”

“You’re not going.” Jordy responded.

“I’m responsible for them being here.” Julia shot back,

“No.” Jordy continued to lie still.

“You’re going to take me or I will go on my own.” Julia said defiantly.  

“You won’t be able to keep up.” Jordy said in a final note.

Julia hadn’t thought of that, Jordy was quite use to traveling great distances quickly.

“Besides, they are here on my invitation, not yours.” Jordy said more machine like than humanoid.  Suddenly Jordy sprang from the prone position. “Some ones coming!”

Julia tried to take stock of where Tommy and Lisa were.  The last time she saw them they were in the greenhouse putting more water in the vats.  “I’ll get to the others and tell them to close things up.  Julia didn’t even question the validity of Jordy’s claims.  If he said someone is coming then they are.  She ran full out towards the smaller tin building and hoped that she found her companions in the first place she looked.  They could not be discovered here.  They had too much work to do yet and who the hell would be way out here?

Entering the building she heard water being poured, “Close it Up!” she shouted.

Two heads popped out from the top of one of the greenhouses, “What?”

“We have company.” Julia said with a great deal of urgency.

In unison, “WHO?”

“Jordy has gone to investigate, hopefully it’s Bart, but we don’t know yet.” Julia was really hoping it was them. “We need to close everything down and look deserted.”

“How long do we have?” Lisa Asked.

“He didn’t say.”  Julia thought to herself, that would have been a good question.

Everyone went in a different direction to close things up and make it as it was when they came upon the place.  In just ten minutes they reassembled and peeked out a specially made vent, so that they could spy out without being seen.  

Looking across to the assembly building, it looked abandoned, except the the reset hole punched in the side by Jordy.  Everything else looked pretty much like it did when they first arrived.  Once the initial survey was done, the group rarely ventured out to any of the out lying buildings, so everything should be okay out there.

The three humans stood and waited to see who would venture out to a place like this.  It was quiet with exception of a gust of wind here and there.  Finally you could hear some irregular footsteps.  Whoever it was, was not doing well.  The footsteps kept coming and finally stopped outside the assembly building.  After a second the person fell to their knees and then onto their face.  Who ever it was, was all bundled up.  No skin showed.  What in the world would have brought them here.

Jordy finally ventured from the assembly building to check the now still body.  It could have been a trap, but if there were others, Jordy would have heard them.  Once Jordy was close, he leaned over to roll the body over.  The prone figure sprang up and tried to bury a knife in Jordy’s abdomen.  The knife deflected off his armored plate and Jordy grabbed the person by their arms.  The person tried all kinds of maneuvers to free themselves, but they were unable. Now the figure was cursing and swearing, “Let me go!” another kick, “You mech.”  

“Stop fighting.” commanded Jordy.

“You’re a machine, you take orders from humans.” The figure fought on. “I’m a human, so put me down.”

Jordy held tight.  “You will do well to settle down. And I do not take order from you.”

The figure stopped fighting as much.  

Julia walked up behind Jordy, “Who are you?”

“Tis your mech?” the person squirmed some more, “Order it to put me down.”

Julia was not quite sure what the working relationship was between her and Jordy.  Was Jordy her captor, conspirator or her property?  “He’s not mine.”

The figure relaxed a little, “Then who’s” the figure flung its head back so that the hood flew back and revealed that the person was actually a young woman.  She tried to spit in Jordy’s face, but the spital got no where near.  Her hair was a tangled mess of clumps and she smelled of body odor.  

Julia asked, “How long has it been since you’ve had a bath?”

Jordy asked, “How long have you been spying on us.”

Julia, well there’s that, she definitely knew that they were there or she would not have tried this little stunt with the fake death.  And if Jordy wasn’t an AI, she would have gutted him with the first blow.  Julia decided to back off and let Jordy handle this person.  

Jordy started squeezing her wrist.

“AAAAHHH!” The young girl cried out.

Julia wanted to stop him, but the question needed to be answered.

“How long?” Jordy repeated.

“Wasn’t.” the girl replied.

“Don’t lie!” Jordy sounded ferocious.

“I not.”  She shook her head, “Just a stop.  Need wata so to trek on to lake.”

“What lake?” Jordy asked.

Now Julia’s ears perked up.  How many lakes could be in a place like this?  And did Bart and Luke walk into a group of nomads?  Is that why they’re late?  

“Peas Lake on outer side of mountains.” The girl said.

“How big is the lake?” Jordy asked since there was no Peas Lake in his memory banks.

“Biggest lake round.” The girl said.

Julia asked, “How many of you are at this lake.”

“A tousand.” Said the girl.

“You’re lying.”  There’s nothing out here with that many inhabitants.” Said Jordy.

“Maybe two tousand.” the girl said in defiance.

“Maybe we should try a different approach.”  Julia said.  “Would you like a bath and some fresh cloths?”

“I not waste ta wata.” The girl said.

“It’s not a waste, we have enough for what we need and we have already filled the tank.” Julia said with a smile.

“You trick.” The girl said, “Put me unter.”

“No.” Julia responded. “Jordy, bring our guest to the hydroponics station.”

Jordy complied.

“See! chor mech.”  The girl said and tried to fight.

It took all afternoon, but they managed to get the girl cleaned up and redressed without anyone getting stabbed of bitten.  They gave her food, which Julia had to take a bight of to show it was not poisonous.  

Looking through her clothing she had very little to work with.  She was wearing a water bladder that was almost empty, a knife, a small pouch with dried fish and what looked like a sewing kit.  No maps or compass, so she knew the route well.    

So, it was now up to Julia to get some information from the girl, but this was not her expertise.  She had to figure out what they were up against.  However, it was the girl that started the conversation.

“What you grow here and how?” The Girl asked. She pointed behind Julia

Julia turned and saw what the girl was pointing at.   She was pointing at one of the tanks that had sprouts on two of the baskets.  Julai said, “Food.”

“How grow?” The girl insisted on knowing.

“If you want, we can show you.” Julia got up and motioned for her to follow.  Jordy was right behind the girl.

Once they were looking at the vat, Julia asked, “Do you have a name?”

“ches.” was all they got.

“What is it?” Julia asked.

“Oocha.” Said the girl.

Julia tried to repeat it “Oooota.”

The girl shook her head, “Oooo-cha” The girl looked at Julia. “Who you.”

“I’m Julia.” Said Julia

“Im-ula?” Said the girl.

Julia realized her mistake and placed her hand on her chest and repeated “Julia.”

“Ulia” The girl repeated.

“Close enough.” Julia said to the vat.

“Ulia what tor mech do?” Oocha asked.

Julia was not sure why she was so interested in who controlled Jordy, but she seemed to not like him.  Julia “We are working on something here.”

“Noting here but wata.” said Oocha.

Jordy interjected, “There is technology that will help us.”

“More Mechs?’ Oocha asked.

“No.” said Julia “We are only here for a short time.  Then we too will leave.”

“Do Mano know?” Oocha asked.

Next Chapter

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As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.

Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss

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Thank-you
R. A. Legg

Learn about the individual heroes of Graham Heights. 

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.