Nova Llar- Training Days Page 10

  After a few hundred meters the group came to a break in the trees that opened up to a large rock face. From this distance, it was difficult to tell exactly how big the rock was or how far it went. What has obvious was the cave about half a meter off the ground. The entrance was maybe 2 meters wide and close to 3 meters high, tapering to the right as it went up. “If the entrance to that cave is any indication it could be a good place for a shelter. At least temporarily.” Joseph said to the group. “One of you come with me and we will check it out. The rest of you stay here. We still don't know where in the world we are and this could be a predator’s home. No point in everyone getting stuck in there if it comes back.” Professor Adeyemi stepped forward, “I will go in with you Mr Taylor.” She was an engineer like Joseph, however, survival training didn't seem to be on her list of achievements from what Joseph could remember. It was good to know people were willing to step up.

  Joseph activated his wrist torch as the entered the cave, it had three functions and right now Joseph was using the lantern one. It essentially turned his whole hand into a large LED, illuminating the inside of the cave. As Joseph had hoped it was a good size, once you were past the first meter or so the cave opened out into a sort of cavern. The ceiling was maybe 4 meters up and it was about 6 meters at the widest point. There didn't look to be any other entrances or exits from the cave, this was good as it meant only one point to defend in the event a predator did show up. In addition, the floor was dry and clear, with only a few small rocks and stones dotted around, the lack of bones, remains or animal droppings indicated this was not home to anything already. After a slightly more thorough survey of the environment, Joseph was satisfied this would make a good shelter, if only temporarily. He turned to Professor Adeyemi and it appeared she had reached the same conclusion. “What do you think Professor? It's certainly got all of the hallmarks for a good place to set down.” Joseph asked. “It certainly looks as though it will meet our needs, at least for the time being.” she replied. They both headed to the entrance of the cave and signalled the others to come inside. They all moved into the cave. The general consensus was it would do for now. “Alright then.” Joseph began. “Now that we have a base camp we need to start gathering resources. We need to divide out and ...” but before Joseph could finish he was interrupted by Rocio Sousa, the other survival expert on their team. “Excuse me, Senior Taylor. I don't mean to interrupt but you are not in charge here.” she said authoritatively. “We are supposed to be a team, making decisions together. If we are to have a hierarchy of command it should be down to everyone to decide who that person in.” she looked around the group for a consensus and most of them seemed to agree with her. “My apologies Miss Sousa, I did not mean to presume my position I was simply trying to offer my advise.” Joseph responded respectfully. “Shall we have a show of hands, firstly for those that would like a leader, then for who the leader should be?” Joseph suggested.

  After some deliberation and back and forth they proceeded with the suggestion. By a vote of 4 to 2, they agreed a leader would be helpful, at least in the setup phase of their camp. The vote for a leader itself was a little more problematic. Bret and Mitaire each got one vote, since you weren't allowed to vote for yourself. Joseph and Rocio each for two votes, resulting in a tie for who would be the leader. They each took a turn presenting their case for leading the team and after some more deliberation amongst the others Rocio was chosen based on her survival expertise as well as her plans for establishing their little colony in this cave. Joseph shook Rocio's hand, agreeing that the best person for the job won. Next, it was time to start actually surviving here, there was still a lot to do before this place could be called home.

  Chapter 18

  It had been 3 weeks since Clara's team had been deposited on the snow-covered mountain. The first few days had been hard on everyone. Only two of them had dressed for cold weather, she was glad she had been one of them. The others did what they could with what they had but it was still difficult. The decision to travel down the mountain, below the snow level, was not something they needed to think about for very long. By the end of the first day, they had passed through one layer of cloud and could see a forest below them. The second day they made it to the treeline and by the fourth, they were in a place they felt they could make work for them. It had been a full week before anyone even mentioned the other team, they had all been so busy trying to survive there was no time for musings. After their shelter, food sources and water were secured they started to setting into the lifestyle a bit, allowing for some distractions to take hold. So far everyone had been doing well and spirits were high. They had opted to construct a shelter off the ground in the trees. It had taken a few days to build out completely but they were all happy not to be sleeping on the ground. It resembled a pod hotel, but with a natural aesthetic. The 6 pods were located on various branches spread over two trees. The heights were largely indicative of where they had been able to reach with the branches for the frames, naturally the lower pods used the heavier sticks and logs so there were affectionately dubbed the armoured pods, one was used to store their gear and supplies while the other was for whomever was on watch at the time. They found out about the wolves during the second week when they could be heard howling further down in the valley. While none had been seen near their camp they had constructed some rudimentary defences and bolstered the pods to withstand some punishment.

  As Clara and Meihui crouched behind some shrubs watching a deer eating in a glad they made every effort not to make any noise. Each drawing their bows back. Looking briefly at the other to make sure they were on target. Almost in unison, they released and the deer dropped to the floor without even making a sound. Clara had gotten her arrow straight through the spine in its neck. Meihui had gotten a clean shot through its heart. The creature felt no pain and it would help keep them going for quite some time. Cautiously they made their way over to the kill. You could never be too careful with wild animals, they may appear dead but if you get to close you could end up with a nasty cut or broken bone if it's still alive and lashes out. On this occasion, the animal was completely devoid of life. Clara took no enjoyment from having to do this to survive. In general society, it was rare to eat meat any more, not since the practices of mass producing meat were abandoned in favour of a more sustainable system for the planet. Obviously, there were still places that offered meat, but they were more farm to table establishments that worked closely with licensed farmers to produce an ecologically friendly quantity of meat each year. You had it if you could afford it, not because it was readily available. There were the grown meat options but they had all been classified as vegetarian food since no animals were involved in the process at any stage.

  Rolling the deer onto their makeshift sledge to get it back to camp, both women froze as they heard a branch break nearby. It was always better to be on high alert in areas prey could be found. Prey usually meant predators were not far away. After a few minutes with no further sounds around them, they slowly moved around to the front of the sledge to start pulling it back to camp. The next thing Clara knew a large and strong creature had jumped past her back, knocking her to the ground as it did. Scrambling to get up and turn towards the attacker she noticed Meihui had been knocked to the side of the sledge. The attacker was more interested in their kill than them for now and the scraggly grey fur certainly made it look like a wolf, although it was bigger than any Clara had ever seen before. Admittedly most of those had been in captivity, maybe they got bigger in the wild. Regardless they needed to be on the alert, wolves rarely travelled alone and the pack would most certainly be close by.

  Looking at Meihui she could see the same thoughts had crossed her mind too. Without saying a word they both nodded slightly and started off running towards the camp. It was only a mile or so away but through the trees and brush it felt much further. At first, there were no indications of pursuit behind them. Maybe the wolves were just happy to have the deer and weren't interested
in a drawn-out chase. But with about a third of a mile to go, they could clearly hear heavy thudding and ragged breath a ways behind them. Sheer terror had taken over Clara now and she was running like she was being carried by the wind, everything moving past her was blurred as she focused on just moving forward. She was ashamed to admit it but she didn't even care about Meihui at that point, the only thing was survival.

  Bursting into camp and with the little breath she could muster, Clara shouted, “WOLVES” still running towards the pods taking in as much air as she could, “Wolves are coming. Everyone, get into a pod.” Not 30 seconds after she had burst into camp three large wolves emerged from the treeline at a sort of canter. They certainly didn't seem to be going all out to catch Clara. Jumping up into the first three and heading for the nearest pod Clara dived inside. Surprisingly followed immediately by Meihui. Clara was relieved she had made it too. Even if she did feel a little guilty for the earlier dismissal of her safety. Turning back Meihui pulled the makeshift door into place to seal the entrance to the pod. Whilst big enough for two it wasn't exactly designed for it. At 2 and a half meters long and a meter wide and one and a half meters high it was supposed to be for one person to sleep comfortably, keeping important items close at hand should they been needed at night. Looking through the gaps between the branches making up the walls of the pod Clara couldn't see any of the other candidates on the ground. The wolves, however, were moving through the camp, sniffing the air and anything they came into contact with. As one approached the tree, presumably following their scent it started climbing with its front paws until its head was level with the lowermost pod. That was at least two meters off the ground. Clara couldn't help but feel something was wrong here. Based on their size the wolves should easily have outpaced them in the forest. They also appeared to be remarkably docile. Turning to Meihui she whispered, “Do these wolves seem a little...off to you?” Meihui whispered back, “Yes, they are far too large. At that size, they should have been able to catch us long before we got here. They are also far more curious than any wolf I have observed in the wild. They are behaving more like dogs, in my professional opinion.” Maihui was a xenobiologist and by extension an expert of my animal life on earth. If she said something was not right with these creatures Clara was inclined to agree with her.

  Before they had any more time to consider what it all meant all three of the creature's ears pricked up. Lifting their heads and looking back towards to forest in the direction they had come from they stopped moving entirely. Then after a few seconds, all three bolted towards the trees and into the forest. They were moving considerably faster than they had on their way into camp. Clearly, something had caught their attention and was very significant to pull them away with such haste. To be on the safe side Clara and Meihui remained in the pod for another 5 minutes before opening the door and climbing down from the tree. The wolves didn't resurface and had clearly travelled a significant distance from the camp as no sounds could be heard from the forest at all now. Both women looked around the camp but no-one else was there. Hopefully, they were all out gathering supplies away from the direction the wolves had gone. They decided the best course of action would be to wait in the camp for the others. It was nearly 6 pm and everyone was scheduled to return by 6:15 if there weren't back already. They believe they were a significant distance from any civilization had led to them voting not to keep a sentry in the camp while people searched the surrounding woods for supplies. That policy may need to change with those wolves so close.

  The rest of the group slowly trickled in over the next 30 minutes, the only person not accounted for was Jason. He was a botanist and often got distracted by something whilst out looking for supplies. Clara and Meihui had gone over the situation with the wolves a few times as people had returned and Jason's absence on this occasion was causing some concern. By 6:40 a few of the group were gearing up to go out and find Jason when he walked into the camp with a large bundle of sticks strapped to his back. “Jason, please tell us you just got distracted again.” Clara asked Jason. “I'm sorry. I found the most interesting fungal formation on the west side of a tree and I needed to confirm some of my theories on cross-pollination allowing for the development of non-light sensitive species at this altitude.” he responded with glee in his voice, clearly, it had been a successful investigation. “You didn't run into anything else while you were out there?” Meihui questioned him. “Nothing out of the ordinary.” Jason replied. “Some squirrels and the odd rabbit. Maybe a bird or two but that's about it. Why?” The group went on to explain the interaction and Jason was relieved he had not encountered the wolves himself. After a lengthy group discussion, the decision was made to build a lookout post at the top of one of the camp trees. It would serve as an early warning system and protection from the wolves, should they return. They also decided that at least one person should always remain in camp. To protect the supplies and alert anyone approaching any dangers.

  After shutting down the camp for the night Clara climbed into her pod and closed the door behind her. Today had been the most difficult to process since they were left here. Something about all of this wasn't adding up for her, those animals shouldn't have looked and acted like they did, what's more, she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever had drawn them away was a planned or structured event. The reactions were too focused, like a trained or programmed response over a natural instinct to find something. As she lay back, waving her hand to turn off the solar light above her the thoughts continued to swirl around in her head, not knowing the truth of the matter was far simpler than she would think possible.

  Chapter 19

  Steve continued to watch his monitors as team 1 bed down for the night. The day cycle for team 2 was just beginning and it was time to introduce another element to their experiences. Gareth entered the room through the double doors behind Steve with a fresh coffee in his hand. “Good morning Steve.” he said as he walked up next to Steve, looking at the various monitors showing different angled of team 2's base camp. “How did team 1 reach to your little addition last night?” Gareth chuckled to himself as he took a sip of his drink. “Overall they seemed to cope quite well with the introduction on the wolves.” Steve replied. “However, both Clara and Meihui expressed concerns regarding the size and demeanour of the creature. An unplanned update to the safety settings may have made them too much like their domesticated cousins to be a true facsimile. We are yet to determine the source of this update.” Steve furrowed his brow indicating his dissatisfaction with his errors. “Ah don't worry Steve. I'm sure they were believable enough.” Gareth attempted to comfort him. “Just remember we need to keep this going for a few more weeks then we should have all the information we need to move forward.” Gareth appeared to be being drawn to one screen in particular. When Steve followed his eye-line it seemed he was focusing on the one showing Jason Taylor's current activity. At this particular point in time, he was working on keeping the campfire alight. “How is Mr Taylor getting along with his team Steve?” Gareth asked with a purpose in his tone. “Joseph has accepted his place as the beta of the group rather well. Though not in charge he is more than eager to offer his suggestions.” Steve reported. “That being said. hE will always concede to the wisdom of the group, or Rocio, if their ideas have merit.” He continued. Steve was aware of Gareth's feeling towards Joseph. He felt he needed to add in an additional point of merit in support of his personal choice for the mission. “Has he had to put the team ahead of his own survival yet?” Gareth asked pointedly. “Todays test should give him that opportunity.” Confirmed Steve. “The challenge will be introduced to him. Testing his commitment to the team as a whole. If he passes, I see no reason he would not make an excellent member of the crew for the missions.” There was confidence in Steve's voice. He felt Joseph would not let him down and that the test he had devised would certainly prove to Gareth he had been wrong about Joseph being there. “We shall see.” Gareth said coldly.

  An hour and a half late
r the camp was fully operating, with everyone carrying out their usual tasks for the day. Team 2 had chosen a cave to call their base camp. It was a logical choice and of the options available Steve was glad they had chosen this one. As everyone went about their tasks Steve commenced the test.

  Joseph was on the edge of the clearing collecting the morning firewood when he heard it. A soft voice that seemed to be calling his name just inside the dense woodland. At first, he thought it was just his imagination, but as the voice repeated a second, then third time he was sure someone was there. Setting the wood he had collected down, he pushed through into the dense mass of trees and shrubs. He was looking for the owner of the voice. After a few minutes travelling through the woods, he started to think it really was his imagination. He was ready to give up when he heard a scream coming from the direction of the camp. Turning he made his way back to the camp as quickly as he could, while it was difficult to run here he found he was able to negotiate the trees relatively well. As he burst into the campsite he saw three members of his team standing against the rock face near the cave. They were lined up facing the wall, their hands behind their heads and one of them, it looked like Bret, had a cut and blood running down the side of his face. Joseph backed up slightly to gain some cover from the trees. Looking around the campsite he couldn't the other-other members of his team, although he could see flickering lights and shadows inside the cave. Peeking around the tree he saw a man he didn't recognise on the edge of the clearing, directly behind the teammates that were up against the wall. He looked to have some sort of weapon, a gun maybe, but he was a good 20 meters away from Joseph so it was difficult to tell. Moving around the back of the tree and into the woodland, Joseph made his way around to where the man stood as quietly as possible. A few minutes later he was directly behind the man and could see clearly it was a gun, a semi-automatic pistol if he wasn't mistaken. Moving in as close as he could preparing to try and incapacitate the man. Just as he was about to strike someone stepped out of the cave entrance. It was Rocio, but she wasn't alone. Two other men, also carrying weapons stepped out with her. Joseph noticed her hands were tied in front of her, indicating she was working under duress rather than as part of whatever this was. Remaining silent to observer Joseph tried his best to pick up on any conversations between these new arrivals. “It's not here.” shouted one of the men from the cave to the man in front of Joseph. “Well keep looking.” he shouted back to the first man. “It's not like something like that can just get up and walk away. Joseph could see Rocio saying something to the first man. He just seemed to laugh, then hit her in the stomach with the butt of his gun. She dropped to the floor and Joseph felt himself getting angry. No-one should treat another person like that, plus she was a member of his team and he felt a sense of responsibility towards her. Without even thinking he lunged for the man in front of him, grabbing him around the neck in a chokehold. He tried to fight back but Joseph had a few kilos on him and had the hold advantage. The other two men could clearly see what was happening but Joseph's captive was between them and himself, “Maybe that's why they aren't reacting?” thought Joseph. A second later the men did react by raising their weapons and pointing them in Joseph direction. “This probably wasn't the smartest move.” he thought to himself. He could feel the man in his arms going limp and struggling less. Using this opportunity he pulled him back into the trees, ducking behind a particularly large oak to get out of site. The man slumped to the floor once release and Joseph quickly grabbed the gun, moving around the tree and through the bushed to another part of the clearing. The two men were still standing there pointing their weapons, though now they were sweeping the perimeter with them. Joseph knew he couldn't risk a frontal assault or his team may be in danger, he may have already caused issues by acting so rashly. Moving around to the side of the rock face he moved to a position where he could see the camp again. Everyone had disappeared, he presumed into the cave, so he continued until he was next to the entrance. There was no guard leading Joseph to believe there were only the two men left and they were guarding their prisoners inside. “Who are you and what do you want?” Joseph shouted into the cave. “We want the AI module.” they shouted back. Joseph froze for a second, how could they know about Jess' module? He only had it on him so he could consult her on some of the vegetation in the area. “What module?” he eventually managed to shout back. “Don't play dumb. Our instruments picked up a portable module for an AI. Do you know what kind of price you can get for one of those around here? It would certainly give us a good few months.” These men were clearly looking for an easy score. The module was custom built design just for Jess, it would fetch a high price in any market for its storage capacity alone, let alone the other features Joseph had installed. “Look, there was something like that here not too long ago. We cannibalised it to make some of the equipment we needed to survive.” Joseph lied. “Oh really? Then how come our scanners are picking it up nearby right now.” this voice was different to the last one, presumably the man who hadn't spoken before. “All we want is the module. We don't really care about this little camping holiday, just find the module and give it to us and you can all go back to whatever you were doing.” the new voice shouted out. “Give up Jess?” Joseph thought. “How can I give her up? She's the only person in this world I have left. What would I do without her?” While Joseph was thinking he could feel time slipping through his fingers, he needed a plan but these people sounded serious. “You have 10 seconds before this lovely lady here dies.” the voice came again. “What should I do, what should I do?” Joseph panicked as the thought went around his head. “5 seconds. 4, 3, 2...”. “WAIT” Joseph shouted into the cave. “I have it here. It's on my wrist. Just bring everyone out so I can see they are alright and I'll give it to you. I'm backing away from the entrance now.” Joseph stepped away from the wall and walked back to the middle of the clearing. As his team emerged from the cave, followed closely by the two men he could see it was indeed Bret with the cut, everyone else appeared fine. “Give us the module.” one of the men shouted. Unclipping it from his wrist Joseph held it on his right hand ready to put it on the floor for them to collect. “Ah, no. Bring it over to us and set it down here.” the man indicated to a spot near them with his gun. “Damn, I had hoped to be able to rush them.” thought Joseph. He approached with his arm held in front of him, placing it down as instructed. The man stooped to pick it up, gave it a quick inspection and nodded to the other man. Signalling for Joseph to move to the side with the rest of his team the two men headed for the treeline where Joseph had knocked out their colleague. As they got closer the third man emerged from the trees, seemingly unscathed by the ordeal. Joseph suddenly had a peculiar feeling that something wasn't right here. That man should have been out for at least another hour, and he certainly wouldn't be walking around as if nothing had happened. The three men turned and ran through the woodland with surprising ease, almost like ghosts moving through solid walls. “Joseph, what was that all about?” Charles demanded as soon as the thieves were gone. “You have an AI module on you this entire time? What could that possibly be for?” Joseph could feel the heat rising in him. He was not in the mood for accusations or explanations right now. Charles pushed again, “Joseph you need to tell us now!”. “No I don't damn it. I don't need to tell you why I had that or what it was used for.” Joseph practically screamed at Charles. “I just had to give away my only family to keep you all safe so back off and leave me alone.” As he stormed into the cave to grab his gear. Those guys may have taken Jess but there was no way they would be keeping her. As Charles turned to leave the cave with his things the entire team was standing in his way. “Charles. Thank you for making that sacrifice for us.” Rethabile said with a comforting tone. “Please, tell us what that module contained that means so much to you.” Mitaire joined in. “Right now I just need to catch up to those guys and get it back. Please get out of my way.” Joseph said, feeling hot tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes. “No J
oseph.” Rocio replied. “You are going to wait until I have my gear together, then we will go together to get the module back.” Joseph was stunned. Sure they were a team but risking her life for a module with no real explanation of why it was important, that didn't quite add up for Joseph. “Why would you want to help me?” he responded sheepishly. “We are more than just a team.” she said. “We are friends and this module clearly contains someone very special to you. Friends help each other, no matter what.” she smiled as she said that. Joseph was comforted to hear that and agreed to wait for her. Shortly after they both set off in pursuit of the thieves. They tracked them for 7 hours, getting further and further from camp. By the end, they were a fair distance into the vast planes they had been dropped off on. Suddenly the trail just stopped, as if the men had completely vanished. There was nothing to indicate a transport or pickup of any kind, the tracks just stopped abruptly. “What should be doing now Joseph?” Rocio asked him. “We keep looking.” he shouted back, fresh tears brewing in his eyes. “Joseph, they are gone. We should have caught them hours ago, how we didn't I can't explain. What I do know is it will be dark soon and we probably have a 4 hours trip back to camp in a straight line. If we don't go now we will be forced to sleep out here and we have both seen how cold it gets here.” Joseph had to concede on that part. It regularly got seeming below freezing and the only way they managed to stay alive was by staying close to the fire at night. Looking around to the distant corner of the planes a sighed a heavy sigh and agreed to head back to camp. As they both turned and headed off towards the camp defeated.