From Sand to Nand

Chapter Twelve

It had been 4 months on the island now, and some teenagers and young adults tried to make the best of it. It started to feel normal to wake up under the hot, humid crest of the morning sun and run down to the beach in small groups for a cooling bathe. The fair-skinned had all become tanned over the past several weeks. The community had even built some relaxation spas and an indoor swimming pool, but it was often too warm and shallow for comfort.

The captain still maintained that no one was to swim in the lake near the waterfall, but many people preferred the fresh water over the salty ocean, and so someone decided to tie a rope swing to a tree overarching a wider, retentive area of the river further downstream. Not many children felt comfortable at first, as they were scared of the creatures lurking in the unknown. But after a few months of human influence, the area seemed well cleared out and reasonably safe. The most daring had gone first, which often encouraged others.

There were a few sightings of some type of lizard or dragon nearby, prompting the stubbornness of a select few to refuse to ever return to the area. The truth was that it all was a bit of a hoax. A young couple out on their first date walked along the river's edge and spotted a baby relative of a common Komodo dragon species. Upon seeing the couple, the creature ran, startling the young woman. Of course, as with any human experience involving fear or heightened emotions, the two juveniles overemphasized the creature's size and features in a way they themselves almost believed. The story they provided was incredibly over-exaggerated.

This happened increasingly more often. A group of friends shared a story around their fire one evening about seeing a massive ape-like creature a kilometer into the forest. Their tale, however, was much more obviously far-fetched and a lot of people didn't believe it. Most preposterous was the recount of an interaction between an elderly, Australian fellow and a UFO. He described the vessel as a continuous, single sheet of saucer-shaped metal with various lights and no windows that hovered just over his head for nearly a minute. "About the size of a two-car servo," is how he described it. "Servo," a young woman, making sarcastic facial expressions, was the Australian slang term for a gas station. Much to Pei's astonishment, more people believed the UFO story over the Bigfoot account. The majority were at least skeptical, which put Pei's sanity at ease. After almost a week of surveying the landscape with a small team designated to find ore, no one else had observed any of these supposed threats or supernatural phenomena.

Luckily, the four groups had environmentally knowledgeable people that could successfully identify 7 areas rich with metal sediments, and dozens of lesser rich areas, as well. Some locations were far from the community plateau, and so the team had maps to help guide them through.

The captain had known what Pei was doing over the course of the week and didn't say much to him. Once Pei had a solid plan worked out in his head as to how to proceed in building a forge, he approached the captain for assistance, but received a response he didn't expect.

"I'm sorry. I don't think it's a good idea, son."

It took Pei a moment to gather his thoughts. He had put an incredibly huge amount of effort into planning and suddenly felt as if it had all been for nothing. "But, Captain I—," he choked.

"I know you've been planning this for some time and what your team has found is very impressive. Everything we have done up until now is unbelievable. But I can't let you do this. I feel it may be a wasted effort."

Pei became cold and grew more aggressive. "How could it be wasted effort? And why would you let me do all of this work without ever telling me this?"

"Pei," McSchmitt interjected when he noticed Pei's emotional shift. "We've done a lot here. For a marooned bunch, we're living pretty comfortably. Think about it. Let's just focus on trying to get off the island."