Chapter 4, Starting the Survey

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Pern: PP 15 - 5 - 18

After waking up I took my bath. Then, I woke up the girls that were going with me. Once they were awake, I went to the Bakery to get my breakfast. Topaz, Robbie, Snowdrop, Hong, Violet and Sucki, along with Crystal, Willow, Jett, Taima and Kangee joined me for Breakfast. While eating and talking with everyone, something came to mind. "Ah, ya. I forgot about something." I stood up and went outside. Several of the girls followed me, wondering what was going on. Once outside I looked east. "I forgot about thread." I told those with me. "It falls from the sky and once it reaches the ground it will devour anything organic. Plant or animal. It shouldn't hurt us, but our clothes will get destroyed if thread lands on them." I nodded my head. "It starts in the east and heads westward." I point to the silvery haze in the sky. "We'll have to postpone the survey for a while." I headed back into the house.

As we walked into the living room, Crystal asked me. "If this thread stuff destroys everything. How come there are trees and other plants here?"

"Well, in the southern continent, where we are, the land has been sewn with grubs that eat the thread. So, the only thing that happens to plants down here is, they get pinpoint holes in leaves from the thread. The animals still have to hide from it any way they can. In the northern continent they don't have the grubs, so they have to burn it in the air before it reaches the ground. That's why they have dragons. The dragons carry their riders, and they burn the thread in the air." I explain. "Again, y'all should read the Dragonriders of Pern books." I turned to go to the living Room, but before I could take two steps, I stopped again and turn to the girls on my team. "Did any of you get the weapon part completed of those pages I gave you?"


Jett stopped beside me. "I finished everything. You said you wanted them finished in a day or so."

"That's good. Could you get the papers for me so I can take a look at them?" I ask her. She ran off to get her papers. I looked at the other two.

Crystal nodded her head. "I'll go get mine." As she leaves to get her papers.

I looked at Willow, she was looking at the floor. "Do you have yours finished yet?" I asked her.

She slowly shook her head from side to side. "No, I have part of it finished but not all of it." She said shyly.

I put my hand under her chin and lifted her head up so I can see her face and eyes. "You have time to finish it now. We'll be stuck here for at least a couple hours." I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "Go on." I told her, making shooing motions with my hands. Willow ran off to finish her papers. I called after her. "We'll be in the Armory." Willow waved as she headed down the hallway, letting me know she had heard me.

A few minutes later Crystal and Jett return with their papers and handed them to me. "Let's go to the Armory." I said as I started walking in that direction, looking at their choices. "These look pretty good." I told them as we walked down the hall.

As we entered the Armory, there is a counter on one side with two weapons laying on it, and a strange looking metal object. One is a pair of Kusari-Gama the other a Naginata. I pointed them out to the girls. "I believe these are our weapons." I walked over to the counter and picked up my weapon, the Naginata~. I gave the handle a little twist and it separated into two Bearded Axes. Jett picked up the two Kusari-Gama^ and Crystal looked at the last object.

~A Naginata is a Japanese pole arm.

~A Naginata is a Japanese pole arm

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