Skye City: The Darkness of Emmilyn

The Water Hole

For two days, the crew and Bronson and a bunch of volunteers clear the area around entrance to the airship, somehow getting pieces of that massive tree shifted. They carve up the sections of trunk to create an extremely sturdy eight-foot-tall fence and they immediately get to work building a gate, unsure what to use as hinges. The geniuses will figure something out.

The plan is to create a garden where children can venture outside with a little protection from the local wildlife. The barrier would not stop the most determined predators getting in, of course, but it would slow them down, and the climb would make them visible to the armed guards.

Meanwhile, us passengers have been fixing up the airship as best we can. We have boarded up most of the cracked and broken windows on the main deck, but we had to sacrifice tabletops to do this. Two other broken windows are covered by sheets for now, meaning there is a risk of wayward child going straight through them. For some reason, people decided we could not possibly sacrifice any more tables. Go figure.

We have restored power via the backup perpetuator, but frustratingly not all areas of the vessel have power, meaning some of the internal wiring must be damaged. We have enough food on board to last us several months, but the captain explained we might be here for the long haul, in which case we must learn to live off the land. This means collecting fruit and using our weapons to hunt. Should be interesting.

'Hey, Emmi, you fancy an adventure?' Samaire says with a rifle strapped to her back while I sit with Kyan, playing the same board game for the twentieth damn time. I am so desperate for some stimulation, not that I would put it like that to the boy.

'What do you mean?' I say.

'Me and a few others are taking our first trip into the forest now. We're gonna check out the area, see if we can find a water supply and maybe some fruit. Best we figure out where the best trees and bushes are, sooner rather than later,' Samaire says.

'How will we know what is edible?' I say.

'Simple. We'll get a volunteer to taste test and if they don't die, we're good to go!' Samaire says and my eyes widen.

'Just kidding, Em. We can use our holowatches. We might not have a signal out here, but these things have plenty of info stored in their databases. Scan any plant or animal and they can tell us what they are,' Samaire says.

'Oh yeah, I remember Arturo doing that with a mutant in Charwood Forest,' I say.

'You coming then?' Samaire says.

'As long as I can get a weapon,' I say.

'Have a quick word with Taiwo. I'm sure he'll let you have a phaser, then meet me at the entrance. Just be quick, we're leaving in the next ten minutes,' Samaire says.

'Okay, I'll go and find the captain now,' I say.

'Great, I can't wait to go outside!' Kyan looks up at me with an excited grin.

'Sorry, mister, you're staying here. We've no idea how dangerous it is out there yet,' I say.

'It's not fair!' Kyan says.

'Maybe not, but you'll be safe and that's what matters,' I say to the frowning six year old. 'Look, the garden is nearly ready and you can play out then.' I kiss Kyan on the forehead and cross the deck, looking around for the captain. Taiwo is nowhere in sight so I head downstairs, finding him chatting to his crew in the entrance area.

'Hey, Captain,' I say and he frowns as I talk over him. 'Any chance of borrowing your phaser again?' The captain hands over his phaser and continues his conversation so I step out the airship where Samaire is waiting with Adi, Nelson, Vytali and a few others. All are armed with rifles and carrying rucksacks and I see the gate has been finished, meaning we have a garden now. Lovely.