black bird, raven reyes

17. radio beacon

"Were in grounder territory."

"Everything is in grounder territory. I can't keep running. We don't even know if the guy Finn killed was telling the truth." Murphy said."We can give them a minute."

"No we can't. You heard what the grounder said. 'They'll outlive their usefulness.'"

"That was when you had a gun to his head, Finn."

"Look, you think I wanted to do that? He would've told his people we were coming, and by the time we got there, our people would be dead. Maybe that's something you can live with, but I can't!"

"Hey, you did what you thought you had to do, but you are not yourself right now." We continued to walk until we came upon a cliff. "Where in the hell did this come from?"

"The Ark." Eden said, as it dawned on her. Some people didn't make it. "There's nothing we can do for these people, let's go."

"Wait. Did you hear that?" Eden asked, as another yell came from down the cliff. "Help me!"

"Mel?" Sterling asked.

"You know her?"

"She's my friend. We have to do something." Sterling said, answering Murphy's question. "We can't stop."

"This isn't a grounder, Finn. We have a rope." Bellamy said. "You saw her. She'd never be able to hold on to it. We'd have to lower somebody down. That'll take time that we don't have."

"Hold on Mel!"

"Looks like we're taking that break after all huh?"
—
"Reyes, there you are. How's your leg?" Sinclair asked Raven. "It's not a factor. What's the job?"

"We need you to build a radio beacon. If the other Ark stations have survivors, we need to know it."

"I'm on it."

"Report to engineering, and we'll get you started."
—
"I'm almost there! Once I have her, pull us up!" Sterling yelled as we all lowered him and the rope tied to a tree. "Well I'd say he's heard one too many of your motivational speeches."

"Shut up, Murphy." We heard yelling minutes later, and saw the rope come off the tree. Murphy went for it, nearly falling off the cliff, Eden grabbing him before he could. "You can do this, Mel!" "No, I can't."

"Yes you can. You're strong!" "I'm not strong, stubborn maybe."

"Then be stubborn a little longer!" Bellamy yelled. "I'm not gonna let you die!"

"Were out of rope." Finn said. "Then we make another one."

"If anything happens to our friends when we could've saved-"

"We don't know if we could save our friends. For all we know, they could be dead already. We've all thought it. But what we do know is that we can save this one girl."

"Sterling was one of us. She was his friend. I'm in. How do we do it?" Monroe said. "We make rope from the wreckage. Find wires, seat belts, anything."

"I hope you're right about this."
—
"What the hell are you doing in here, Reyes?" wick asked Raven. "Helium, Wick? Really? Ark welders aren't toys."

"Come on Reyes. You've got enjoy life. You enjoy enough for everybody."

Still dreaming up designs the rest of us will have to fix?" "Hey, my designs are elegant."

"If only they were realistic. It's been real, but I have a beacon to work on."

"In that case, welcome to my party. Schematics are over there on the bench. We're using parts we scavenged from the stations debris field. Oh, also, I have a little something for you." Wick handed Raven a handmade brace. "What a piece of crap. I can get around just fine. What you need to worry about is countering the mountain effect. That's your job. Damn engineers."

"Damn mechanics."
—
"Ease it out slowly. Just hang on. I'm almost there."

"God, why did we send Bellamy down there." Eden asked, her feet sliding as they held the rope. "Why couldn't we send Monroe, she's light."

"I am not going down there." She mumbled, from behind me. "I got her! Pull us up!"

"Don't sorry Bellamy! I won't drop you!"

"Not the fucking time, Murphy."
—
"I'm changing the tone frequency to 400 hertz. It'll increase the radiated modulation depth. Atmospheric noise will screw us. So the signals fainter. At least they'll know we're out here."

"What's wrong?"

"The current isn't getting high enough. We might as well be shouting into the wind. We put an insulator between the mast and capacity top hat."

"Already tried that. Not working."

"Then you're doing it wrong." Raven got irritated. "Raven."

"Don't worry. I'll fix it. I always do." She sighed as a pain in her leg took over. "Try my damn brace!"

"Your damn brace sucks!"

"Come on, Raven, elbow grease ain't gonna fix this. Let's go back to the work room. Well think this through."

"Leave me alone, wick!"
—
Arrows shot through the trees. "Eden, go shoot them!" Finn said. Eden grabbed her gun, shooting at the trees. An arrow pierced her leg, and she fell. The fog horn sounded through the air. "Acid fog." Finn said. They got Bellamy up, and Eden held her leg. "We need to take cover." Bellamy said.

"No we don't." Octavia came out of the woods, and Bellamy saw her. They embraced in a hug.
—
"Bring me down, Reyes. Hey, you know why you're working on the beacon?"

"I'm not. Find somebody else."

"Because I asked for you. You're the best mechanic we got."

"Three mechanics made it to the ground."

"You were one of the top three on the Ark too. I say this even though you refuse to acknowledge the ingenuity of my designs. You have a first-rate mind. Use it. Your legs messed up, and that blows. Find a way to work around it."

"How do I do that?"

"You could let your friends help for once. The rest, it's up to you." Raven sighed. She sat down on the chair, setting her crutches down. She grabbed the brace, and put it on. "What do you know? It holds!"

"Barely."

"Oh, whatever! My design worked! You can admit it!" Wick said, proud of himself. "Oh, whatever. This thing is an offense to mechanics everywhere."

"You're welcome!" Wick said, helium in his voice. "Helium!"

"Argon! What? Are we not just throwing out noble gasses?"

"No, you idiot! I know what we have to do to raise the beacon!"
—
"The grounders will come back, so we need to go now. Octavia says the arrow might be poisoned." Eden winced as Octavia broke the arrow, and wrapped a bandage around it. "I have to take them home. I'll meet you as soon as I can." Finn and Murphy went looking for the others.
—
"So the balloon beacon wasn't a bad idea."

"I think the word you're searching for is 'genius.' You should have been an engineer. You already have the arrogance."

"What the hell are you doing?" An Ark guard asked. "Oh, it's a radio beacon."

"Wrong. It's a target."

"Hey wait a second! We fell from space in a football station, I think they already know we're here."

"Chancellor Kane's out there risking his life to make peace with the grounders. You better hope he's successful because if he isn't, every grounder within 50 miles now knows where we are. I expected better." She shot the beacon down, it falling to the ground. "All guards on the wall now, you see a grounder, you shoot on sight!"
—