Project New Eden

Chapter 6

Having no way to contact the Humanity, Ren and Katrina had been with the natives of the planet for three days.

Wanting to make the most of the situation, Katrina had been teaching them English and trying to learn about them. The progress was slow, but they had made some progress.

They learned that the people were called the Oka, they had villages scattered throughout the massive forest. They even had a capital city of sorts that they called Okron, a sacred place where they originated from.

While Katrina had been trying to learn about the Oka and teach them things, Ren had been trying to repair the emergency beacon so that the Humanity could find them. He had no success however, this planet simply did not have the things he needed to replace the damaged parts.

Ren was sitting on a log staring at the beacon parts in front of him when the Oka with the bone necklace walked up to him. They had even figured out his name, Os'u he had said while pointing to himself.

"Os'u makes Ren bow," Os'u said, handing Ren a bow that Os'u had been making for a while. It wasn't a massive bow like theirs either, it was properly sized for Ren.

Ren took the bow, turning it over and inspecting it. "Thank you," Ren bowed his head to Os'u and raised the bow up, he had seen the Oka do this in thanks for things and figured it was the proper custom. He must have been right as Os'u grinned.

"Come, come!" Os'u shouted excitedly. Ren realized how good of a job Katrina had been doing teaching these people English, he was impressed.

Ren stood and followed Os'u, curious. They walked to the edge of the village where all the hunters were waiting, smiles on there faces. A couple of them said something to each other and grinned, looking at Ren.

"Ren shoot!" Os'u said, pointing off into the trees.

Ren looked, what he figured was seventy-five yards away stood a few straw targets sitting between the trees. They want to see if I can use it. Ren thought to himself.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot!" they all began chanting.

"Alright alright! I'll shoot!" Ren yelled out, knowing this was going to look horrible.

Ren stepped to the front of the group, looking downrange at the targets.

Here goes nothing, he thought, raising the bow and nocking an arrow. Ren took a deep breath, exhaling as he drew the string back, trying to keep his arms steady. He brought the target into view, noticing his arm was moving all over the place, he couldn't keep it steady.

Ren released his arrow and watched it fly downrange, burying itself in a tree nowhere near the target.

The group of Oka burst out laughing, patting Ren on the back as he did. Ren saw the ones who were talking as he walked up pass something between each other. Oh great, they are making bets, He figured.

Nocking another arrow Ren lifted the bow, drawing the string back at the same time he raised it this time. Thunk! Another miss, this time closer. It wasn't close enough to stop the Oka from laughing.

Os'u grunted at Ren, holding a bow of his own he motioned for Ren to look at how his draw arm was raised in the air.

Okay, keep that arm up higher. Another arrow flew down the range, Ren watched it speed towards the target. The arrow buried itself halfway into the ground in front of the target, more laughs followed.

One last try. Ren wanted to show the Oka he could do it and put an end to the laughs.

Whoosh, Ren closed his eyes, listening for the sound of the arrow smacking a tree, or something other than the target.

A cheer erupted from the Oka around him, Ren opened his eyes and looked. The arrow was buried in the grass target, nothing but the feathers sticking out.

"Haha! You see that?" Ren laughed, smacking Os'u on the back.

"Good, tomorrow more." Os'u walked off with his group of hunters, they all were talking quickly and laughing.

"Your fitting in well," Katrina walked up, a smirk on her face.

"Thanks, I'm still not sure about these people you know." Ren walked with Katrina around the village, taking in more of the Oka's daily life.

"Their offer still stands, they will take us back to the clearing." Katrina looked at Ren as she said it, trying to gauge his reaction. He had been quiet on the subject every time she brought it up.

"No, not until we can contact Humanity. We couldn't survive out there by ourselves, at least here we are safe," Ren knew they couldn't survive. They couldn't even figure out what to eat.

The Oka was interesting to Ren, he often wondered if humans were much the same in the early years of life on Earth.

"You know, it's amazing how good of a job you're doing with them. I can't believe three days ago we couldn't communicate and now they are taking bets on my marksmanship," Ren caught himself staring at Katrina all too often, and she caught him looking more than he would of like.

"Thanks," she smiled at him, her beautiful warming smile. "They are interesting people, you should really spend less time tinkering with that beacon and get to know their customs"

"Maybe your right, I've spent days trying to figure that thing out. Hopefully they find us eventually, my back is really starting to hurt sleeping on those hide beds." Ren said, catching Katrina rolling her eyes at him. "I am curious though, it seems to be all men in this village, any idea what's up with that?"

"I'm not positive, but it seems like this is a hunting camp. I don't think this is actually a village, I'm pretty sure they come here to hunt then bring back what they can to Okron," Katrina said, pointing to the various pieces of meat drying out. "I assume they are very similar to ancient tribes on earth, the women are probably making clothes and raising children."

"Huh, sexist tribe," Ren said, hoping to win some brownie points with Katrina.

"That would be totally normal for a stone age tribe actually. And here I was thinking you knew your history," Katrina's reply felt like a smack across the face.

A high-pitched whine interrupted their conversation, growing louder and louder as it approached.

"That sounds like..." Ren began to say, Katrina finished the sentence for him.

"Shuttles," she said, pointing to the sky.

Ren looked up, blocking the sun with his hand. Sure enough two shuttles were breaking through a cloud, heading right for them.