Tertium

2. Earth Skills

The next morning, Andy got back to work on the communication system. With her homemade pliers in hand, she found herself once again carefully picking through set after set of tangled wires. She truly had missed working in Mecha-Station, with its long hours, thousands of colorful wires and intricate circuits boards, numerous accidental electrocutions due to the fact that she refused to wear the safety gloves, music blaring through her small earbuds at all times, and some of her best friends working by her side.  Along with Finn, her fellow engineers and mechanics had created the family that Andy never got the chance to have. As she continued working, her mind drifted to those still on the Ark. What were they doing? Were they okay? What about Nygel? While she was lost in her thoughts, a wire slipped through her fingers, sent a shock wave through her finger, and caused a small red spot to appear in its wake. "Another one to add to my collection," she laughed to herself as 'admired' her collection of scars. Some were new and red, others were old and pale, but they decorated her hands and forearms in the same way that her freckles covered her face.

That wire must have caused a little more damage than she thought because a few minutes later she noticed that her finger still stung. Andy got up and exited the dropship in hopes of finding some of the water that she and Wells had collected the previous night, maybe washing it off would help with the pain. In doing so, she found a very sweaty Wells, dusting the dirt off of his hands and lower legs. "Wells, what are you doing?" He picked up a pile of clothes and two pair of shoes, as he explained that he had just finished burying the two boys that died during the landing. The graves she noticed, were a little ways outside of camp, which created a mood of separation, mourning, and respect. "May we meet again," she whispered to them before following Wells back towards camp. As they made their way back, they passed a few couples making out, some people using buckets as drums, and a group of boys chasing each other, all trying to catch the same object- whatever that may be.

   As they neared the dropship, Atom- a tall boy, with dark hair, and a sad attempt at facial hair- stepped out in front of them. "Hey, where'd you get the clothes?" Atom asked. "Buried the two kids who died during the landing," Wells explained calmly. "Smart, you know, I'll take it from here," Atom replied, reaching for the pile of clothes in Wells' arms. "Red, knows what I'm talking about, there's always a market for-"Andy rolled her eyes at his comment as Wells cut him off, "We share based on need. Just like back home." At that very moment, Bellamy emerged from the dropship, and joined the conversation, "You still don't get it do you, Chancellor?" He was shirtless, and the girl that walked out behind him was only wearing a sports bra. "Oh my gosh! I was in the dropship all morning, " Andy thought to herself. She shook her head, disgusted by the thought of what had happened just floors above her. She gave him a chaste kiss, before slipping her shirt back on and walking away. "This is home now. Your father's rules no longer apply." He snatched a shirt out of Wells' hand and Andy finally spoke up, "What, and your idiotic rules do?" Wells was just as annoyed as she was, especially after the previous night. Wells moved to take the shirt back, but Atom stepped between the two trying to stop him. "Oh, no, no, Atom. Hold up. Wells, you want it back? Take it." They two had a short stare down before Wells had enough, and through the clothes to the ground behind him. Within seconds, everything was being taken by one delinquent or another. "Is this what you want? Chaos?" Wells asked. Bellamy began to put on the shirt in his hand, but not before casually replying, "What's wrong with a little chaos?"  "Soooo many things!" Andy shouted, throwing her hands in the air. Suddenly a girl could be heard screaming, "See what I mean? There's something wrong already!" Andy added sarcastically as they all ran to see what happened.

   When they arrived, Andy was shocked, but not surprised, to see Murphy holding a girl face-first over a fire. She was whimpering in pain as the heat was burning her skin. "Bellamy," Murphy called out, seeing their so-called 'leader' arrive at the scene. "Check it out. We want the Ark to think that the ground is killing us, right? Figure it'll look better if we suffer a little bit first." Wells ran down the hill and pushed Murphy off of the struggling girl, who Andy immediately helped to her feet as she offered to get the girl some water. Wells tried reasoning with Bellamy, "You can stop this." "Stop this? I'm just getting started." Andy was not in any mood for his arrogance at the moment, so she walked away to get the water for the girl as well as herself. As she did she missed Murphy swing at Wells, knocking him in the jaw and sending him to the ground. Upon hearing the chants of "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Andy retrieved the water as quick as she could and gave it the girl. She returned to see Bellamy drop a knife at Wells' feet while declaring that it should be a "Fair fight." Andy looked over to see that Murphy was now holding a knife as well. The crowd cheered them on as the circled each other. Murphy threw a few swings, managing to cut Wells' arm. "This is for my father!" Murphy yelled as he went to swing again. As big and mighty as Murphy thought he was in that moment, he proved to be no match for Wells, who grabbed his arm and soon held Murphy in a choke hold. Andy had tried to get in and help, but she kept getting pushed back by the crowd.