Atlantis

Chapter Sixty-Five

"Octavia, you have to be a leader." Faye said over the radio. "The clans respect you. With Indra and Gaia's help, they will all follow you." 

"I'm not a leader. It should be you." 

"But it's not. I trust you'll do good." Static began and Faye couldn't hear Octavia anymore. "Octavia, are you there?" Faye asked.

Bellamy walked in. Faye was glad he got to say goodbye before the radio cut off. 

"The radio cut off." Faye hung her head. "You better tell Clarke, she won't be able to say goodbye to her mom." Faye stood up. 

She began to leave before Bellamy grabbed her hand. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked her. 

Faye looked up at him, the only person she really trusted. "For the first time, I'm really scared. I'm scared of dying." She admitted. 

"Hey, nobody's dying." Bellamy grabbed her face softly. "Understood?" He wiped her tear and pulled her close. 

"Faye, Bellamy, get down here." Murphy called from the lower level.

They watched on the monitor as Polis was destroyed by the death wave. Tears blurred Faye's vision and she could feel her throat closing up. The only place she really thought was her home, was gone.

"It's 210 miles from Polis to the island." Raven said. "According to what was our last drone, the wave is accelerating. If we're not off the ground at least 20 minutes before it hits, the electromagnetic charge in the pryoclastic cloud will shut down the rocket's avionics, meaning it won't fly. That gives us 90 minutes to run a 6-hour pre-flight check,retrieve the oxygen generator from the lighthouse, turn a cockpit designed for two into one that can carry 8, and load the cargo hold with enough food to keep us from starving in space while we wait for the algae to bloom." 

"I thought you said it was gonna be hard." Murphy said sarcastically. 

"That's not the hard part." Raven said. "Becca designed her rocket to dock with Polaris, not the Ark. That means I have to pilot it into the hangar bay on the ring." 

"What's so hard about that?" Harper asked.

"That's not the hard part, either." 

"What is the hard part, Raven?" Clarke asked.

"Assuming we blast off in time, CO2 scrubbers on a two person rocket won't support 8 of us." 

"So we use supplemental oxygen." Clarke suggested. 

"Our tanks only hold an hour of air." Monty said. 

"Correct. We'll have one hour to get into orbit, land in the hangar bay, and fire up the life-support system using an oxygen generator built to supply a lighthouse bachelor pad." Raven explained. 

"You suck at talking people into things." Murphy said. "You know that, right?"

"Anyone here still need to be talked into this?" Bellamy asked. Everyone shook their heads. "Good. Now we know the many ways we might die today, why don't you tell us what we have to do to live?"

- - -

"You three with me." Raven pointed to Clarke, Bellamy, and Faye. They walked outside, all wearing suits. "The tower's less than a mile away. One more time, all we have to do is plug this into the junction box  at the base of the tower. sat-star-one is the name of the dish." 

Clarke repeated the name to herself.  

"Everything is set. Once the tablet is connected, the dish will align itself with the Ark. The graphic will flash green,  and that's when you know it's locked on. when it says "send," you hit send, and the power-up signal will turn on the lights, and that's it. Are there any questions?"